It is rare that any union speaks out against the “politicking” or “policies” or “agenda”, of Barack Obama, and/or, any of his appointees.  The National Council 118 – Immigration and Customs Enforcement did do just that, with a vote of 259-0, in a Vote of No Confidence, and they were not shy, or even politically correct, with their criticisms.

In a letter, dated June 25, 2010, they expressed their desire to distance themselves from the actions of ICE Director, John Morton, and, Assistant Director, Phyllis Coven, by stating-

“It is the desire of our union within ICE and our employees to publicly separate ourselves from the actions of Director Morton and Assistant Director Coven and publicly state that ICE officers and employees do not support Morton or Coven, or their misguided and reckless initiatives, which could ultimately put many in America at risk.”

Some of the policies and actions they are not in agreement with are

• Senior ICE Leadership dedicates more time to campaigning for immigration reforms aimed at large scale amnesty legislation.
• Senior ICE officials, knowing the problems of the massive amount of Criminal Aliens, who are being released back into society, because of the lack of funds to prosecute and house the Aliens, the senior officials refuse to alert the Congress as to the severity of the problem, and refuse to request funds to support the much needed help of the local agencies.
• ICE is misleading the American public with regard to the effectiveness of criminal enforcement  programs like the ICE “Secure Communities Program” using it as a selling point to move forward with amnesty legislation.  As officers in the field, we know this program will not improve enforcement or provide for public safety because ICE refuses, for political reasons, to request the additional manpower and resources needed to adequately operate the program.
• The majority of ICE ERO Officers are prohibited from making street arrests or enforcing United States Immigration laws outside of the institutional (jail) setting.  This has effectively created “Amnesty through Policy” for anyone illegally in the United States who has not been arrested by another agency for a criminal violation.
• Senior ICE leadership excluded the trained officers from developing reforms, but, solicited the ideas of special interest groups.  As a result, the ICE facilities have become resorts which provide bingo nights, dance lessons and hanging plants for the criminals.  For those considered “low risk” pat downs have been eliminated, making it unsafe for the agents working at these facilities.
• ICE has virtually no consistent national policies.
• Senior leadership ignores reports from the agents, and, retaliates against those they consider whistleblowers.

“It is our sincere belief that the integrity of the Agency as well as public safety will be better provided for in the absence of Director Morton and Assistant Director Coven.

Days after Director Morton received this document, he was questioned as to his sentiments, and, his response was in other words a “you’ll have that” type of attitude.  He said complaints come with the territory.

The 287(g) program

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the 287(g) program.  For others, in short, it was a section added to the 1996 Immigration Bill passed by Congress.  It provided for the training of local law enforcement officers, to act in conjunction with ICE officers in upholding our Immigration laws.  It cost about $3,000 per officer for the 6 week training period, at a facility in North Carolina.  There were other methods of getting officers trained as well, but the cost was higher. The purpose was to act as a “force multiplier” in the apprehension of those in the US illegally.  If you click on the link above, there is a wealth of information as to the success of the program.

Spending for the 287(g) program has been:

• 2006- $5 million
• 2007- $15.5 million
• 2008- $39.7 million
• 2009- $54.1 million
• 2010- $5.4 million

In 2010, the House of Representatives provided an increase to $68 million, but, the Senate approved only $5.4 million, which was all the Obama administration requested.  Refer back to the Vote of No Confidence document  above, where the agents have claimed that the ICE leadership has refused to even request funds for  the very successful program.

In FY2008, ICE spent $219 million to remove 34,000 fugitive aliens, who were mostly criminals.  That was outside of the 287(g) program.  In contrast, the 287(g) program, which was awarded only $40 million produced more than 45,000 arrests of aliens who were involved in state and local crimes.  287(g) is cost effective, as stated by many police departments, because it is again a “force multiplier”.  The local agencies cover the cost  of the personnel who screen and arrest the illegals.  That was how it was before John Morton, who was appointed by Barack Obama, and, was confirmed “unanimously” by the Senate in 2009.

The Secure Communities program

As I said above, in 2008, ICE set up a pilot program which was tested in North Carolina, I believe.  The Strategic Goals, of Secure Communities, as stated on the ICE website are as follows: (Bolding mine)

• Identify aliens in law enforcement custody, through modernized technology, continual data analysis, and timely information sharing.

• Prioritize enforcement action to apprehend and remove criminal aliens who pose the greatest threat to public safety.

• Transform criminal alien immigration enforcement to efficiently identify, process and remove criminal aliens from the US.

You can clearly see, by the Strategic Goals of Secure Communities, they are only concerned with the “criminal” aliens in our midst.  If an illegal has not already been arrested for a criminal act, by another agency, they are good to go.  Killing the funding for the 287(g) program all but insures that the illegals, who have not committed crimes, or who have not been caught, are safe, and can stay to vote for the Democrats.

In January of 2010, the Obama administration aka John Morton, there was a request for $146.9 million in funding for the Secure Communities program.  I have not been able to find any information if they in fact did receive those funds.  The main function of the Secure Communities program, is in setting up databases to hold fingerprint information, from those who have already been arrested for other crimes.  Again, this administration is only concerned with those that have committed crimes, not everyone who is here illegally.  Now it has gotten to the point where the ICE leaders, Morton et al, have determined the levels of crimes.  Low level crimes are DUI’s (even multiple DUI’s), and robbery etc.  They are picked up, and immediately released right back into society.  Yet, legal Americans serve their full sentences as determined by the law.

Hanging plants, potted flowers, bingo night, movie night, cooking lessons and, no pat downs–

There was a memo, from someone in the ICE administration, on 5/27/2010-

Subject- Immediate Attention, New ICE Requirements

Importance- High

Here are some of those “requirements”-

• Allow visitors to come for as long as they like during a 12 hours period each day, and on weekends
• Play the “Know your Rights” legal orientation video in each housing unit every day (not in lieu of personal legal programs, but in addition to them).
• Allow free movement within the institution for detainees of appropriate classification level (low risk).
• Allow (low level) detainees to wear their own clothing, and provide non-penal clothing for detainees to wear.
• Eliminate lock downs and lights out for (low level) detainees.
• Reduce the frequency of and, as reasonable, wholly eliminate pat down searches.
• Provide more normalized common areas.
• Soften the look of the facility with hanging baskets, flower baskets, new paint colors, different bedding and furniture, wall graphics and framed pictures on the walls, and enhance the aesthetics of living areas.
• Expand programming for detainees to include movie nights, bingo, arts and crafts, dance, walk and exercise classes, health and welfare classes, basic cooking classes, tutoring and self paced computer training on portable computer stations.
• Provide celebrations of special occasions and allowing detainees to receive outside packaged food for celebrations and while visiting family and friends.
• Design new menus with greater varieties and reduce repetition of food.
• Offer continental breakfasts that are completely self serve on holidays and weekends.
• Provide fresh carrot sticks and celery or other vegetables in a bar like setting.
• Provide self serve beverage bars.

You get the picture.  There are other requirements listed.

A Republican California Congressman has sent a letter to Director Morton, asking how these requirements will not cost the taxpayers, as was stated in the memo.  He asked for an answer by July 10, 2010.  To date, no response from Morton.

A night or so ago, Neil Cavuto had John Morton on as his guest.  At the end, Cavuto pointedly asked Morton if he and the Obama administration support amnesty.  In typical Democrat style, Morton replied with something like- “We are deporting the criminals from the United States.” Cavuto broke in, and said, that’s not what I asked you, are you supporting amnesty.  Morton said NO. Morton was put in a corner, and as all good Obama Czars do, he lied.

If this isn’t “Amnesty by Policy” or, as the Center for Immigration Studies put it “Amnesty by Stealth”, I don’t know what else you can call it.