Immigration Enforcement Plunges in 2009
Just five days after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke before the Center for American Progress extolling how her department has “transformed” worksite immigration enforcement, data released by the bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — which reports to Napolitano — revealed a very different reality. A report released on Nov. 18 details the extent to which the Obama administration has dismantled all meaningful immigration enforcement activities.
The numbers tell the story. Between FY 2008 and FY 2009:
- Administrative arrests of illegal aliens dropped 68 percent (from 5,184 to 1,644).
- Criminal arrests of illegal aliens dropped 60 percent (from 1,103 to 443). This directly contradicts statements made earlier this year by Napolitano claiming that two of ICE’s “major…enforcement priorities” were “the identification and removal of criminal aliens.”
- Criminal indictments of illegal aliens dropped 58 percent (from 900 to 376).
- Criminal convictions of illegal aliens dropped 63 percent (from 908 to 338).
In place of arrests, prosecutions and removal of illegal aliens, ICE has substituted paperwork audits of company records. When audits reveal illegal aliens on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire the illegal workers with little or no adverse consequence to the company. The workers are not detained and, in most cases, may again use the same false documents or acquire a new set and move on to other jobs.
