PHOENIX ‑‑ A top national border security official said Thursday his agency is doing all it can to deport illegal immigrants with the resources Congress has provided.
|
|
Morton, in Phoenix to publicize a special effort this week to round up criminal aliens, said the $600 million in border security funding approved this week by Congress will help. That includes money for 1,000 new Border Patrol agents, 250 new officers for Customs and Border Protection at ports of entry and 250 new ICE personnel including special agents and intelligence analysts.
He said President Obama is expected to sign the legislation next week.
But Morton said the ultimate answer has to be "comprehensive immigration reform.'' And that, he said, has to include a way for those who have been in this country for some period of time, albeit illegally, to stay.
Morton said, though, that does not amount to amnesty for those who broke the law by crossing the border illegally or overstaying their entrance visas.
His position has made him the target of rank‑and‑file employees within his own agency.
In June, the representatives from the union which includes about 7,000 ICE employees cast a unanimous "vote of no confidence'' in Morton and Phyllis Coven, an assistant ICE director. Among the charges is that senior ICE leadership "dedicates more time to campaigning for immigration reform aimed at large‑scale amnesty than advising the American public and federal lawmakers on the severity of the illegal immigration problem.''
Thursday's press conference was to detail how ICE coordinated a special effort which resulted in the arrest of more than 60 criminal aliens and immigration fugitives. The three‑day push is the sixth of its type in the country.
And he said his agency is opening a new office in Casa Grande with seven agents.
But Morton specifically detailed that during a "typical week'' ICE removes 1,500 illegal immigrants, including 500 who are criminals. There also are five arrests on charges of human smuggling, investigations of three "drop houses,'' inspections of 30 the records of 30 employers and find more than 50 people working in this state unlawfully.
The press conference comes amid criticism from Republicans that the Obama administration is doing a poor job of both guarding the border and rounding up those already in this country illegally. Morton said that is not borne out by data showing fewer people being apprehended trying to cross the border illegally while the number of federal agents working along the border is at "an all‑time high.''
"And we're about to send more people there,'' he said, referring to that $600 million supplemental appropriation, with the resources aimed at the Southwest border.
"We're about enforcing the law within the resources Congress gives us,'' Morton said. He said that, at current funding, that provides enough to round up and deport only about 400,000 people a year.
What that means, Morton said, is concentrating the efforts on finding the most dangerous.
But the ultimate answer, he said, is a total change in immigration laws.
"Strong, sensible enforcement is a critical part of the solution,'' he continued. "But it's not the only part.''
What that means, Morton explained, is a means for workers and families to come to the United States legally. And what it also means, he said, is "an ability for people who have been here a very long time to get right with the law by paying a fine, by learning English, by paying their taxes, and getting to the back of the line.''
Morton said that's not amnesty because the path to citizenship would not come free.
"The question is, what is the appropriate sanction for someone who's been here a very long time,'' Morton said.
For example, he said, there are people who were brought here as children by their parents. They may be married and have children who, by virtue of their birth in this country, are U.S. citizens.
And Morton said any other alternative is unrealistic.
"Is the answer for the government to deport all 10.8 million people here in the United States?'' Morton said.
"That's not possible,'' he said, answering his own question.
"And it's not the right answer at the end of the day,'' he said. "The right answer is to balance serious, tough, sensible enforcement with rational, bipartisan comprehensive federal immigration reform that focuses our enforcement efforts where they make the most sense.''
Morton also repeated the Obama administration's opposition to Arizona's new immigration law.
"Very close cooperation and coordination with state and local law enforcement is a part of sensible immigration enforcement,'' he said. "But we don't think that 50 different immigration enforcement regimes is the answer.''
The U.S. Department of Justice, among others, sued the state over the new law. A federal judge last month issued a preliminary injunction against several key provisions from being enforced.
Comments
Wake Up wrote on Aug 20, 2010 6:30 AM:
Ca-dream-lost wrote on Aug 20, 2010 12:58 AM:
ROB BURT wrote on Aug 19, 2010 8:54 PM:
ROB BURT wrote on Aug 19, 2010 3:30 PM:
Information compiled from Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security reports:
• 83 percent of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.
• 86 percent of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.
• 75 percent of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
• 24.9 percent of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals .
• 40.1 percent of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals.
• 48.2 percent of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals.
• 29 percent (630,000) of convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually.
• 53 percent plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
• 50 percent plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
• 71 percent plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or "transport coyotes".
• 47 percent of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47 percent, 92 percent are illegal aliens .
• 63 percent of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63 percent, 97 percent are illegal aliens.
• 66 percent of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66 percent, 98 percent are illegal aliens.
• 380,000 plus "(inappropriate term)" were born in the U.S. to illegal alien parents in just one year, making 380,000 babies automatically U.S. citizens.
• 97.2 percent of all costs incurred from those illegal births were paid by the American taxpayers. That is almost ALL of them!
What a disgrace you are.!!These are facts that you didn't learn in your worthless LIBERAL college degrees.
A concerned citizen. "
mojado wrote on Aug 18, 2010 11:41 PM:
ignored?.
you think i feel good seing how lifes passes by and me not being able tto make my dreams come true
i know the rethoric. "what part of illegal you don't understand". i understand your frustation, the law is the law .and i enter this country with out inspection and for such iam willing to pay the fine, make comunity sevice , but i can't leave my american wife and son.
you see if i had some sort of legal status i wouldnt be abused by my boss i woundnt be living hand to mouth i would have my own bussines i have handdle to save some money but without a driver licenses is not viable for me to get a bussines liccenses and scares me to set deeper roots if iam going to be deported please america understand
i cross the border with out inspection and from the legal point of view that's the equivalent of jay walking i understand u're angry and i apologize to enter your land without authosization . "