Amid sanctuary city debate, Obama administration takes heat for pulling plug on enforcement program

The president said it worked. The nation's top immigration agent said it worked. Even the inspector general said it worked. So why did the Obama administration kill a government program that did exactly what Congress intended by identifying and deporting illegal immigrants? ...

At issue is an ICE program known as Secure Communities. Launched after the 9/11 attacks under the Patriot Act, it required immigration agents to have access to the fingerprints and criminal history of any immigrant booked in jail. That requirement came after studies showed immigration agents failed to identify 86 percent of all illegal immigrants released from jail.

Secure Communities cost more than $1 billion, and in 2012, then-ICE Director John Morton called it "the future of immigration enforcement." That same year, the Department of Homeland Security inspector general called Secure Communities a success, "effectively identifying criminal aliens ... with little or no cost" to local jurisdictions.

But to critics, the program cast too wide a net. In large, Democratically controlled cities like Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, politicians said the program deported too many immigrants guilty of minor crimes, like traffic violations and non-violent offenses like theft and burglary. In response, some 200 cities created "sanctuary" laws to shield immigrants by prohibiting local police from cooperating ...

The illegal immigrant population of 11.7 million represents just 3.6 percent of the U.S. population. But according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, illegal immigrants represent 12 percent of murder sentences, 20 percent of kidnapping sentences and 16 percent of drug trafficking sentences ...

NOTES:

March 2, 2011:  Morton Amnesty Memo #1

June 17, 2011:  Morton Amnesty Memo #2

June 17, 2011:  Morton Amnesty Memo #3

December 21, 2012:  Morton Amnesty Memo #4
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Timeline: How the Obama Administration Bypassed Congress to Dismantle Immigration Enforcement

May 19, 2010:  ICE Director John Morton Announces Termination of Cooperation with Arizona Law Enforcement

July 14, 2010:  Obama Administration Ignores Dangerous Sanctuary City Policies

August 1, 2011:  Obama Administration Sues Alabama over Immigration Enforcement Law

October 31, 2011:  Obama Administration Sues South Carolina over Immigration Enforcement Law  

November 22, 2011:  Obama Administration Sues Utah over Immigration Enforcement Law

March 31, 2014:  New Report Reveals ICE Released 68,000 Convicted Criminals in 2013

[And more]