“For a large part of the last four or five years we’ve been unable to take enforcement action against those individuals,” the Washington Examiner quoted ICE official Matthew Albence as saying earlier this week in explaining why U.S. immigration officials have a backlog of 550,000 illegal aliens. Albence is executive associate director for enforcement and removal operations.
Two reasons are given for this exceptionally large backlog. One, former President Barack Obama handed many of them temporary amnesty, and two, others were allowed to stay by judges sympathetic to illegal immigration.
Obama began delaying deportation actions in large numbers in 2014. Albence explained that even if officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) found an illegal alien in jail, they were discouraged from taking him into custody. “Our officers had to turn their heads or walk the other way. So that’s a large part of that problem, the fact that we couldn’t enforce the law.”
Even some illegals sought for murder were protected.
Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan also asserted, “We need to hold judges accountable.” Another problem he cited was the hundreds of sanctuary cities which have not allowed ICE officers to take illegal aliens into custody, even if they are in their jails. ICE under the Trump administration intends to fight those cities and other obstacles, Homan added. He believes this will send a message to those here illegally that they are still subject to deportation, even if they have been in the country for a decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment