FILE - In this June 15, 2012 file photo, Ricky Campos, 23, of Silver Spring, Md., left, Katye Hernandez, 22, both illegal immigrants originally from El Salvador, who live in Silver Spring, Md., hold signs saying "Thank You President Obama," along with Rachelle Robertello, 18, of Fairfax, Va., and others from the group Casa de Maryland, rally outside the White House in Washington, in support of the president's announcement that the U.S. government will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. On Tuesday, Aug. 14, the Department of Immigration (USCIS) made the forms available online for applicants. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
-
FILE - In this June 15, 2012 file photo, Ricky Campos, 23, of Silver Spring, Md., left, Katye Hernandez, 22, both illegal immigrants originally from El Salvador, who live in Silver Spring, Md., hold signs saying "Thank You President Obama," along with Rachelle Robertello, 18, of Fairfax, Va., and others from the group Casa de Maryland, rally outside the White House in Washington, in support of the president's announcement that the U.S. government will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. On Tuesday, Aug. 14, the Department of Immigration (USCIS) made the forms available online for applicants. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
-
Mayra Rivera, center, with her children, Aixa Martinez, 18, left, and Aryam Rivera, right, from Philadelphia, wait inside the Embassy of Honduras Consulate Section in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. The Department of Homeland Security is releasing for the first time details on how illegal immigrants brought to the US as children can apply to avoid deportation and receive a work permit. Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services, said people who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program can download the application, including forms needed to get a work permit, from the agency's website, beginning Tuesday. They can start submitting applications on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
-
Luis Martinez, 20, from Philadelphia, right, walks in the hallway inside the Embassy of Honduras Consulate Section in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. The Department of Homeland Security is releasing for the first time details on how illegal immigrants brought to the US as children can apply to avoid deportation and receive a work permit. Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services, said people who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program can download the application, including forms needed to get a work permit, from the agency's website, beginning Tuesday. They can start submitting applications on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
-
Leonardo Irias Navas, head of the Consular Section at the Embassy of Honduras in gestures in his office in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. The Department of Homeland Security is releasing for the first time details on how illegal immigrants brought to the US as children can apply to avoid deportation and receive a work permit. Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services, said people who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program can download the application, including forms needed to get a work permit, from the agency's website, beginning Tuesday. They can start submitting applications on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
-
People fill out paperwork inside the Embassy of Honduras Consular Section in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. The Department of Homeland Security is releasing for the first time details on how illegal immigrants brought to the US as children can apply to avoid deportation and receive a work permit. Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services, said people who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program can download the application, including forms needed to get a work permit, from the agency's website, beginning Tuesday. They can start submitting applications on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
-
Hundreds of illegal immigrants counting on the DREAM Act passing wait in line to get a passport or any other kind of assistance outside the Mexican Consulate, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012, in Houston. Illegal immigrants are scrambling to get passports and other records in order as the Department of Homeland Security starts accepting applications to allow them to avoid deportation and get a work permit. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Nick de la Torre)
-
FILE In this Oct. 6, 2011 file photo, Senate Banking Committee member, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. listens to testimony by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Menendez employed as an unpaid intern in his Senate office an illegal immigrant and registered sex offender who has now been arrested by immigration authorities, The Associated Press has learned. The Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents to wait weeks and not to arrest him until after Election Day, a U.S. official involved in the case told the AP. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
-
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigration rights activist and self-declared undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
-
Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
DHS releasing illegal immigrants before sequester
WASHINGTON (
AP) — A week before mandatory budget cuts go into effect across the government, the Department of Homeland Security has started releasing illegal immigrants being held in immigration jails across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday.
Gillian Christensen, an ICE spokeswoman, said ICE has reviewed "several hundred cases" of immigrants being held in jails around the country and released them in the last week. They have been "placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release," she said.
Christensen said the agency's "priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety." She did not say how released immigrants were selected or what jails they were released from.
Tuesday's announcement of jail releases is the first tangible impact of the looming budget cuts for DHS.
The Obama administration has been issuing dire warnings about the impact of the sequestration and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters at the White House Monday that across-the-board cuts would impact the department's core operations, including border security and airport screening operations.
She also warned that DHS might not be able to afford to keep the 34,000 immigration jail beds mandated by Congress. On average last week, there were 30,773 people being held in ICE jails.
"I don't think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester as without sequester," said Napolitano, adding that the impact would be "'like a rolling ball. It will keep growing."
According to the National Immigration Forum, it costs the government about $164 a day to keep an illegal immigrant facing deportation jailed. In a report on immigration detention costs last year the advocacy group said costs for supervised release can range from about 30 cents to $14 a day.
Republicans lawmakers decried the releases Tuesday.
"It's abhorrent that President (Barack) Obama is releasing criminals into our communities to promote his political agenda on sequestration," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. "By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the Administration is needlessly endangering American lives. It also undermines our efforts to come together with the Administration and reform our nation's immigration laws."
The administration asked for about $1.96 billion for immigration jail operations in the last budget. It amounts to about $5.4 million a day, according to the National Immigration Forum's report.
Christensen said Tuesday that released immigrants will still face deportation proceedings.
Tags:
obama administration, dhs, administration, u.s. immigration and customs enforcement, homeland security, customs enforcement, janet napolitano, culture_politics, tuesday, jails, united states department of homeland security, public safety, immigration, sequester, white house, political agenda, immigrants, illegal immigrants, immigration to the united states, illegal immigration, release, budget cuts, napolitano, border security, across-the-board cuts, national immigration forum, immigration laws, supervised release, core operations, judiciary committee chairman, immigration law, advocacy group, bob goodlatte, american lives, significant threat, dire warnings, immigration jail, criminal immigrants, tangible impact, mandatory budget cuts, dhs secretary janet, immigration jail beds, immigration jail operations, immigration detention costs, immigrant facing deportation, airport screening operations, immigration jails, christensen, ice jails, gillian christensen, ice spokeswoman, jail releases, cost-effective form, republicans lawmakers, criminal offenders, deportation proceedings
Print Page
