You people think Obama wants you safe. Explain this, please. Remember, this is a statement from a union boss.
Chris Crane, president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118, made a number of stunning revelations during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee — and he’s begging Congress for help. The ICE union boss argued that agents are no longer allowed to arrest illegal aliens solely for illegal entry or expired visas and morale is at an all-time low.
Most Americans would be shocked to find out that immigration agents are regularly “prohibited from enforcing the two most fundamental sections of United States immigration law,” he said. Instead, the administration has ordered that only illegals charged or convicted of “very serious criminal offenses” may be arrested or charged by ICE agents and officers.
“In fact, under current policy individuals illegally in the United States must now be convicted of 3 or more criminal misdemeanors before ICE agents are permitted to charge or arrest the illegal alien for illegal entry or overstaying a visa,” he added. That is unless the misdemeanors involve assault, sexual abuse or drug trafficking.
Even more shocking, Crane said ICE agents or officers who witness a violation of immigration law are prohibited from making arrests and even from asking questions “under the threat of disciplinary action.”
Citing a recent morale survey disseminated throughout federal agencies, Crane said ICE ranks 279 out of 291 in employee morale and job satisfaction. He has previously asked the Obama administration to help address the plummeting morale and dissatisfaction among ICE agents.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is continually making it nearly impossible for agents to enforce federal immigration law because they allow special interests groups to influence policy, Crane explained.
“The day-to day duties of ICE agents and officers often seem in conflict with the law as ICE officers are prohibited from enforcing many laws enacted by Congress; laws they took an oath to enforce,” he said. “ICE is now guided in large part by influences of powerful special interest groups that advocate on behalf of illegal aliens.”
Crane continued: “These influences have in large part eroded the order, stability and effectiveness of the agency, creating confusion among ICE employees. For the last four years it has been a roller coaster for ICE officers with regard to who they can or cannot arrest, and which federal laws they will be permitted to enforce. Most of these directives restricting enforcement are given only verbally to prevent written evidence from reaching the public.”
All of these restrictions being placed on ICE employees has put them in increased danger and the agency has seen assaults against ICE officers and agents continue to rise as “ICE arrestees become increasingly more violent and criminal in nature.”
You may be surprised to know that ICE agents are also prohibited from carrying life saving protective equipment like Tasers while on duty. Crane said ICE won’t approve the equipment due to “political reasons.”
“Death or serious injury to ICE officers and agents appears more acceptable to ICE, DHS and administration leadership than the public complaints that would be lodged by special interest groups,” he added.
Crane closed with this:
“In closing, while deeply concerned by the actions of our agency, as well as the current state and future of immigration enforcement, we are optimistic that all of these matters can be resolved with the assistance of members of Congress.
Only time will tell if lawmakers will answer the repeated pleas for help.
http://standwitharizona.com/blog/201...f-enforcement/
Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy
The other side of the story.
"The last I checked federal bureaucrats are supposed to implement the administration's policies, not publicly obstruct them.
So why is Christopher Crane, President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council -- the union of 7,000 immigration agents, officers, and employees -- engaging in a pattern of open insubordination designed to thwart the president's effort to deport dangerous criminal aliens and national security risks?
Crane is livid about President Obama's Deferred Action
plan, announced on June 15, to temporarily defer the removal of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. years ago as children and have shown promise by furthering their education or preparing to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Crane has the audacity to publicly challenge President Obama's view that it makes more sense to deport violent criminals and national security risks than young students, graduates, and veterans. Someone should remind Crane that the American people elected Mr. Obama president, not him.
Crane was a featured speaker Monday at a Capitol Hill press conference organized by a group of Republican Senators to denounce the President's Deferred Action program. According to
press reports, the ICE union president claimed:
Prosecutorial discretion for dreamers is solely based on the individual's claims. Our orders are if an alien says they went to high school, then let them go... Officers have been told that there is no burden for the alien to prove anything... At this point we don't even know why DHS has criteria at all, as there is no requirement or burden to prove anything on the part of the alien.
Crane is either intentionally trying to mislead the public or he hasn't bothered to read the Deferred Action guidance posted on ICE's website. It squarely puts the burden on the alien applicant to prove he or she qualifies:Only those individuals who can prove through verifiable documentation that they meet these criteria will be eligible for deferred action. Individuals will not be eligible if they are not currently in the United States and cannot prove that they have been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of not less than five years immediately preceding today's date. The use of prosecutorial discretion confers no substantive right or pathway to citizenship. Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer these rights.
This isn't the first time Crane has played fast and loose with the facts in an effort to undercut the administration. Last year he openly deplored ICE Director John Morton's prosecutorial discretion policy which, frankly, empowered ICE agents to focus their efforts on arresting and removing dangerous criminal aliens in an effort to keep America safer.
Crane's reaction to the administration's enforcement priorities shows that the union's leadership, apparently out of touch with its own members, is hell bent on maintaining the status quo -- indiscriminate arrest, detention, prosecution, and deportation of immigrants -- without thinking about what's best for America.
Where was Mr. Crane earlier this year when it was reported that the administration deported over a million people, more than any administration before it? Nor has Crane said a word about the fact that since Mr. Obama took office in 2009, illegal border crossings have dropped to their lowest point since the 1970s.
Crane's comments hardly reflect what the ICE union's rank and file think is good for America. They demonstrate the self-interested fears of an entrenched bureaucrat attempting, at all costs, to resist positive change; a desperate hold on a tired policy that has outlived its effectiveness. Unfortunately, for the ICE union's many hard working agents, Crane's knee-jerk, mutinous reaction to President Obama's immigration enforcement policies is narrow minded, short sighted, and misses the point. The danger to an American community is less likely to come from a gifted student than from a dangerous felon or terrorist.
But where does Crane come off attempting to set administration policy? Since when does the soldier tell the general what to do? It is nothing less than shameful, indeed scandalous, that this ICE bureaucrat would work in cahoots with the president's political opponents to thwart legitimate policy objectives. Crane's statements are chalk-full of unsubstantiated allegations and vitriolic language but short on considered analysis. Not surprisingly, Crane offers no immigration policy solutions.
President Obama's Deferred Action program is hardly the answer to a dysfunctional immigration law badly in need of repair. That's Congress' job and, hopefully, one day soon it will deliver a safe, orderly, and fair immigration policy which will keep America secure and prosperous.
As for ICE Agent Christopher Crane, it's high time his superiors demand his badge and show him the door."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-...b_1732455.html