Immigration -- ICE Agents Going Rogue

April 7, 2010

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Zaid Jilani, Andrea Nill, and Alex Seitz-Wald

IMMIGRATION

ICE Agents Going Rogue

Last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a damning critique of the federal 287(g) program that deputizes local and state police to enforce immigration law after entering into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The OIG's report couldn't have come at a worse time for ICE officials. The week started with a leaked memo revealing that ICE issued deportation quotas for field officers, directly calling into question pledges made by the Obama administration to keep enforcement focused on criminals and abusive employers. Then, Texas Appleseed released a report indicating that the "incompetence" of mentally ill detained immigrants "is routinely ignored by immigration judges and deportation officers." Two days later, the New York Times revealed that over 30 Haitians had been languishing in immigration detention for months after being accidentally ushered onto a U.S.-bound plane by American Marines. For immigrants and immigration advocates frustrated by the lack of immigration reform, the OIG's report added "insulted to injury" at the end of an embarrassing week for ICE and left many to conclude that ICE is "more rogue than right."

BUSH-ERA DEPORTATION NUMBERS: Since coming into office, the Obama administration has shied away from the controversial work-site raids of the Bush administration. Instead, both President Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano have promised to focus on pursuing undocumented immigrants who pose a danger to national security. Nonetheless, deportations have increased by 5 percent, reaching 387,790 removals in fiscal year 2009 -- two-thirds of which involved non-criminals. James Chaparro, head of ICE detention and removal operations, was upset that removals were still "well under the Agency's goal of 400,000," and said so in a memo that was eventually leaked to the Washington Post. Immigration advocates responded to the leaked deportation quotas with outrage. The Reform Immigration for America Campaign issued a press release stating, "ICE has a serious credibility problem as they continue to say one thing while doing another." The Immigration Policy Center issued a DHS "report card" stating, "[W]hile there is a policy shift at the top of DHS, it remains to be seen whether that shift will translate into a cultural shift throughout the agency." Frank Sharry of America's Voice urged the Obama administration to improve practices and performance by ICE, while other organizations called on the President to outright dismiss ICE head John Morton. Top ICE officials immediately denounced the leaked memo and clarified that it doesn't represent the agency's official policy. However, advocates remain largely skeptical of ICE leadership and the agency's capability to implement Obama's enforcement strategy.

287(G) BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR: In early 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report criticizing ICE for failing to provide local police participating in the 287(g) program with clearly defined objectives or a consistent system of supervision. "Contrary to the objective of the program," the GAO report found that participating local police were removing immigrants for minor violations amidst rampant allegations of discrimination and racial profiling instead of curbing serious crime committed by "removable aliens." Napolitano responded by announcing new objectives and guidelines aimed at "providing uniform policies" that prioritized the deportation of immigrants who commit serious crimes. The new OIG report indicates that, despite recent improvements, little has changed, and "significant challenges in administering the 287(g) program continue to exist." In fact, the report definitively stated that "ICE cannot be assured that the 287(g) program is meeting its intended purpose, or that resources are being appropriately targeted toward aliens who pose the greatest risk to public safety and the community." The report also found that little thought has been given to the protection of civil rights and civil liberties throughout the program's implementation, and "287(g) officers at several program sites were not knowledgeable about the asylum process, immigration benefits, and victim and witness protections." Although civil rights and immigration advocates weren't surprised by OIG's findings, the report was the last straw. Several organizations believe the program is "broken beyond repair" and are calling on the Obama administration to terminate the program once and for all.

ATTACKS FROM THE RIGHT: In the past, Morton has accurately pointed out that he "can get criticized on the same issue from both sides on the same day." Throughout the past week, Morton has probably felt the sting from both sides on a daily basis. The same weekend Chaparro's memo leaked, a prominent Arizona rancher was shot and killed while in his SUV near the Mexican border. The despicable act of violence immediately prompted anti-immigration hawks like former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo to describe the murder as having been committed by an undocumented immigrant, despite the lack of suspect and leads. Tancredo took his demands a step farther by calling for Napolitano's dismissal, accusing her of lying about border security in order to move immigration reform forward. However, Napolitano has never said that DHS's work at the border is done. What she has said is that over the past few years, the U.S. has seen "improve[d] immigration enforcement and border security within the current legal framework." Ultimately, the agency's inconsistent application of the Obama administration's promises isn't just the result of a few "ICE cowboys" carrying out their own priorities, it's also the natural result of an agency that is stuck enforcing bad immigration laws within a broken system. "We will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows," Napolitano has stated. Throwing more money and boots at the border might temporarily shut restrictionists like Tancredo up, but in the absence of immigration reform, the tragedies associated with the nation's defective immigration laws will continue to mount on both sides of the debate.

RADICAL RIGHT -- MCDONNELL: SLAVERY WASN'T 'SIGNIFICANT' ENOUGH TO BE INCLUDED IN MY CONFEDERACY PROCLAMATION: Last week, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) "quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month," calling on Virginians to, among other things, "understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War." Notably absent from the proclamation, however, is any mention of slavery. McDonnell explained yesterday that he did not reference slavery because he focused on the issues that he "thought were most significant for Virginia." Neither of Virginia's previous two governors, Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, declared a Confederate History Month. Republican governor Jim Gilmore, who served from 1998-2002, did issue such proclamations but acknowledged slavery as "one of the causes of the war" and a practice that "degraded the human spirit" and "is abhorred and condemned by Virginians." For his final proclamation in 2001, Gilmore replaced Confederate History Month with "a tribute to both black and white Civil War combatants that expressly denounces slavery as the root cause of the four-year conflict." Gilmore's predecessor, Republican George Allen, started the practice of Confederate History Month. He didn't include slavery in his proclamation, and under significant pressure from civil rights leaders, eventually apologized. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on April 12, 1997, Allen said, "Surely, I don't want want to upset anyone. For those who are sincerely offended...I apologize." The American Prospect's Adam Serwer writes that McDonnell's proclamation is "telling" because "it reveals which Virginians he feels are 'significant.'"

"President Barack Obama's advisers plan to remove terms such as 'Islamic radicalism' from a document outlining" the nation's national security strategy. The revisions to the document, called the National Security Strategy, are part of a larger effort to show that the United States is not at war with Islam.

Congress plans to probe the recent explosion at a West Virginia coal mine and has dispatched two aides from the House Education and Labor Committee to the state as part of its investigation. "We will look for inadequacies in the law and enforcement practices, and I will work to fix any we find," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV).

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin will be in Minneapolis today to appear at a GOP fundraiser to benefit Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) "and other Republican glitterati" will address the crowd, while "conservative media star Sean Hannity will be on hand to sign his new book and do his television show from the convention center."

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) "vowed to block all future spending bills in the Senate that aren't fully 'paid for' with cuts to other spending programs." Coburn is already blocking an extension of unemployment benefits for 200,000 Americans, and he told The Hill newspaper yesterday that if blocking bills "earns us consternation, so be it."

A federal appeals court yesterday ruled that the FCC "lacks authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks." Free Press writes that the decision leaves "the future of the Internet, the fight for Net Neutrality, and the expansion of broadband...hanging in the balance."

The Obama administration has "taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki," who was linked to both the Fort Hood shooting and the attempted Christmas day bombing. Officials say that it is "is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing."

The White House suggested yesterday that it may cancel President Obama's meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai next Tuesday, offering "fresh signals of its displeasure" with the Afghan leader. Referring to Karzai's anti-Western remarks, press secretary Robert Gibbs questioned whether it's "constructive to have such a meeting" and declined to call Karzai an ally.

New legislation intended to curb the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case may also outlaw secret funding of ads run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A bicameral bill expected to be introduced soon "would require nonprofit groups, unions and trade associations including the Chamber to identify who pays for ads designed to sway opinion on candidates for federal office."

And finally: In "one of the stranger moments on the campaign trail," someone asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) yesterday what "he is doing to encourage immigrant women of child-bearing age to come to the United States." After beginning to launch "into a serious answer on immigration," Reid paused and instead responded, "Let me answer it this way: I'm not opposed to sex." There were "a few moments of silence before the crowd began laughing."

D.C. media scoff at President Obama's substantive and detailed answer to a health care question.

Fox News tries to reignite attacks on climate scientist exonerated by Penn State.

Will Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) push back against conservative health care misinformation be more effective than media fact-checking?

Which world leaders will meet with President Obama next week?

The Pentagon can't find its copy of the leaked Wikileaks video of Reuters reporters being shot.

Fire ants, poison ivy, and deer ticks are the big winners in climate change.

Coal mining poses substantial costs for nearby residents.

Right-wing critics are flummoxed by President Obama's nuclear review.

"I think what [Sen.] Harry [Reid] ought to do is get in a car and drive around Nevada, where people are overwhelmingly opposed to hiring 16,000 IRS agents as health police."
-- Fox News' Newt Gingrich, 4/06/10

VERSUS

"Will the IRS hire 16,500 new agents to enforce the health care law? No."
-- FactCheck.org, 3/30/10