Janet Napolitano: Deportation Numbers Will Be 'Very Robust' Under New Policy

WASHINGTON -- Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, defended the administration's new deportation policy on Tuesday, saying she expects more undocumented immigrants convicted of other crimes to be deported. If states want to see more deportations overall or more funding of border security, though, she said they need to look to Congress.

"The numbers are going to be very robust in terms of numbers of removal -- we don't fool around about this," Napolitano said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "Our border enforcement is second to none."

The administration announced earlier this month that it would conduct a case-by-case review of 300,000 deportation cases, closing those that are deemed low-priority because they involve undocumented immigrants who haven't committed other crimes. Meanwhile, the government is expanding its ability to catch undocumented immigrants using the ongoing Secure Communities enforcement program.

The combined effect should be to deport more criminals and fewer undocumented people who are merely living their lives in the United States, Napolitano said.

"As Secure Communities gets implemented and as it works as it should ... I expect that the ratio of [criminal to noncriminal] will increase" among those deported, she said. "I think the noncriminal number will drop under Secure Communities."

Some conservatives have been critical of the new deportation policy, arguing it will allow some undocumented people to go free. "Obama issues executive amnesty to illegals," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a vocal proponent of harsher immigration enforcement, tweeted last week. "Deportation is inconvenient. No criminals deported unless 'serious.' I insist on [congressional] hearings."

Napolitano said the policy is a matter of prosecutorial discretion, which is necessary because Congress does not appropriate enough funds to deport all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States.

"Congress should look at numbers if they want more deportations," she said.

She also called on Congress to deal with the issue of border security funding on the heels of a letter from GOP presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry requesting $349 million to cover the cost of incarcerating undocumented immigrants in his state. Perry billed the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly doing too little to secure the border, saying the cost of incarcerating undocumented people was being left to the states.

It's a complaint that Napolitano herself made when she was governor of Arizona, and she joked that Perry seemed to have copied her letter and substituted Texas. But she said border security is stronger than ever and that such a request should go to Congress.

"This is not something that Congress has been willing to appropriate funds for," Napolitano said. Her role, she said, "is to do everything I can to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who enter Texas and Arizona and New Mexico."

Comments

[PalmG]

10:41 AM on 09/15/2011

"more undocumented immigrants" I stopped reading at that. Does that term make anyone else's skin crawl? Why won't this site and other msm outlets use the correct term "ILLEGAL?"

[mayanindependentspeak]

04:16 PM on 09/11/2011

Why not just stop them at the border so that we don't need to deport them?

American taxpayers foot the bill for deportation.

We pay for the illegal's attorney costs, if any are required. If the jails are overcrowded, we pay for a hotel or motel to house and feed the illegal awaiting deportation. We pay for the air or bus fare back to their country of origin.

Give us a break. Seal the border. Don't let them into the country in the firs place.

[greyhound2]

03:27 PM on 09/02/2011

"Something Congress has been unwilling to appropriate funds for" is the problem. You can enforce the laws all you want with the 25 cents we put in your budget.

[inthedesert]

10:46 AM on 09/02/2011

Hey folks...if you want to hurl, just read the piece by the mayor of LA on HP today. The taxpayers need to keep funding those costly ESL classes. LOL.

[Ladder 1]

12:18 PM on 09/01/2011

Hmmmm
If they are collecting a paycheck, they are using stolen or falsified docs. If they are 1099'd (tax term look it up) and not filing because they have no documents, they are breaking the law. So who exactly is low priority?

[mdh461]

10:19 AM on 09/01/2011

According to a report from The Center for Immigation studies. There are about 10 million Americans with degrees in (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) not working in these fields.

Each year, some 200,000 additional skilled foreign workers are admitted through a variety of existing visa programs.

At least one million skilled nonimmigrant workers are in the UnitedStates at an one time.

The large majority of foreign PhD recipients already remain in the United States under current law.

In examining the details of proposals to increase skilled immigration it's clear that they would lead mainly to theadmission of large numbers of unremakable workerssince those who truly are the "best and brightest" already have ways of entering or stayin in the U.S.

[22Keys]

01:05 PM on 09/01/2011

Everyone loses in Brain drain from the third world. Especially third world countries.

[13champlain]

10:01 AM on 09/01/2011

Bank robbers just want a better life too.

[SBleeder]

12:04 PM on 09/01/2011

They're only stealing the money other people won't steal.

[dhtucson]

01:23 AM on 09/01/2011

Napolitano: "...she expects more undocumented immigrants convicted of other crimes to be deported. If states want to see more deportations overall or more funding of border security, though, she said they need to look to Congress." Key here is "other crimes". Unless they've committed other crimes, they most likely won't be deported! That's the problem with the current administration's adherence to existing law and the reason so many States have passed legislation to stop them before they committ "other crimes."

It shouldn't take murder, rape, assault, robbery, or drunk driving to get the Feds to deport someone who has been caught here illegally! If they're pulled over for a ticket, applying for a job, or doing any other activity requiring identification, their identification should be checked pure and simple. The police run your plates, ID and license anyway. With ICE they can also run that same information within minutes. If illegal they should be arrested and prosecuted.

I'm sure the family in MA that just lost their son to an illegal drunk driver, arrested a year ago for assaulting a police officer but later released by the Feds, wish the Govenor would have enforced the law. That man would have been in jail and their son would be alive. This happens every day across America and it's shameful that our own President picks and choses what part of the current laws to enfore. Napolitano knows the impact of this.

[SBleeder]

12:04 PM on 09/01/2011

F + F

[Marisa Stein]

02:14 PM on 09/02/2011

she really needs to be fired, my parents were almost killed by a drunk driving illegal they were in the hospital for months and as soon as he got out of jail he ran back across the border. sorry Janet and Eric but you both need to lose your jobs and we need a president who will stick up for us and deport these criminals

[theexperimentisfinished]

09:32 PM on 08/31/2011

in California, students will be paying more for higher education than ever before because the state is broke. Ignoring this, they are trying to pass legislation providing grants to illegal aliens attending school. Not only do they give them instate tuition, now they want to provide them with grants.

[Viper1st]

09:48 PM on 08/31/2011

2009 ~ California Taxpayers costs to fund "post-secondary" "in-state" tuition for illegals?

$208 million USD

[nee]

07:29 AM on 09/01/2011

We can't even pay our bills as a state and now they want to give MORE of our tax dollars to ILLEGAL ALIENS. Call govenor Brown @ 916-445-2841 to tell him you oppose AB 131. We need to use our tax dollars on our CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants!

[Vivicca Whitsett]

12:16 PM on 09/01/2011

Agreed!!!

[22Keys]

01:55 PM on 08/31/2011

During my undergraduate education at U.C.L.A, I fervently advocated for loose immigration policy by the United States. I was, after all, in class with many brilliant and talented undocument students. I slowly realized just how detrimental such policies/ideas are. Many of these students were studying to become doctors, engineers, etc. I would often ask my fellow students about career prospects. Very few expressed an interest in returning to Latin America. After all, many of them were fleeing insufferable poverty. In the long term, I realized that the only way to end poverty in Latin America is to make sure that they have many talented people there to help build society. If the United States is not willing to secure its' borders, then these countries appear doomed to an eternal state of moderate poverty. Brain drain is pernicious trend that should be opposed by everyone. Loose immigration policies are only superficially charitable.

[Viper1st]

09:54 PM on 08/31/2011

Curious ~ how did it work out for your co-students in the medical field?

(1) w/o a SSN to run a background check for professional licensing requirements ?
(2) illegal for U.S. Employers hiring illegal(s) risking a Federal Felony charge with imprisonment & $10,000, find any takers?

[jonr7007]

10:46 PM on 08/31/2011

That makes absolutely no sense. Brain drain is when rich latin americans come to the U.S., get their educations here and don't look back-they are people who already have opportunity. Undocumented students are not your average international student. In fact, they're not international students. They owe nothing to their "home" countries, this IS their country, the United States. What we advocate for is not "loose" immigration policy, it's fair and humane immigration policy for those that come to make an honest living in the U.S.

[Viper1st]

12:01 AM on 09/01/2011

I submit ~ the U.S. Immigration policy is "loose", as evidenced that the USCIS grants legal "vetted" entry into the USA, 1 million foreign nationals each & every year since 2001 ~ that's over 10+ million foreign nationals on their pathway to Naturalized U.S. Citizenship

"Vetted": legal entry based on 4 criteria ~

Criminal Background check
Medical Background check
Education Level, beneficial to the USA
Skill Set, beneficial to the USA

Not every foreign national makes the grade for acceptance legally into the USA

All this said ~ "It makes absolutely no sense," that in:

Last ten years ~ 10+ million legal entries of foreign nationals into the USA
Last ten years ~ 10+ million illegal entries of foreign nationals into the USA

Combined total of 20+ million legal/illegal foreign nationals have come into the USA

While there are 14 million U.S. Citizens out of work in the USA ~ U.S. Unemployment has been at 8.8%+ for the last consecutive 29 months

"Absolutely No Sense?" ~ IT's ASININE

[nee]

07:32 AM on 09/01/2011

If they really wanted to "make an honest living in the U.S." they would have come here LEGALLY! ILLEGAL ALIENS are here ILLEGALLY and are taking money from our CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants.

[Elizabeth Lutrell]

12:29 PM on 08/31/2011

What exactly do they consider criminal behavior? Where I live, a week doesn't go by that at least one illegal is involved in a car crash, many times with the other driver injured or killed. The illegal has no license and no insurance. Are these people getting deported? They are making our communities seriously unsafe. Anyone caught driving while illegal should have car seized and be deported.

[SBleeder]

02:05 PM on 08/31/2011

Apparently, using a stolen or made-up social security number (which is forgery, a felony in every state) isn't enough.

[Dealerdeb1]

10:11 PM on 08/31/2011

nothing is enough for our ideolog President. No other President in history hassneaked around the constitution like Obama has. back door amnesty, using the EPA as his stroong arm to get business natiobnalized. he's a snake watch him.

[Viper1st]

10:29 PM on 08/31/2011

In the last two days ~ I've read four HP Commentors state that, "illegals don't hurt nobody"

I guess that Identity Theft by illegals in the USA is so common place to the everyday way of life for illegals living in the USA ~ that it is not considered a crime

Identity Theft DOES HURT THE VICTIMS ~ just that we don't see it, or hear about it often enough

http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2006/03/31/6346107-hidden-cost-of-illegal-immigration-id-theft

[Kurfco]

11:58 AM on 08/31/2011

Thread that needle....ever so gently.... Pander, mollify critics, pander, sweettalk critics, toss Hispanics just enough to keep them in line, pacify critics. Thread that needle...ever so gently.

[nee]

07:35 AM on 09/01/2011

So true! Heavily fine those who hire ILLEGALS and if they continue to do so take away their business license.
ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS no matter where they come from, what language they speak, who they are related to, who they work for, where they go to college, or how many good deeds they do need to be DEPORTED!

[Mary-Charlotte Domandi]

11:15 AM on 08/31/2011

The first sentence of this article says "... she expects more undocumented immigrants convicted of other crimes to be deported." "Other" crimes? Being an undocumented immigrant is not a crime. It is a civil violation, on about the same level a speeding ticket. Please note that we have a system that recognizes a difference between civil and criminal violations, and undocumented immigration is the former.

[Ilegal]

10:32 AM on 08/31/2011

If they came to this country to become felons, gangsters, thieves, drug dealers, etc, please do send them back. We certainly don't need those. And by we I mean us, the other immigrants, the ones who came here to actually work and be good citizens. Those bad apples ruin the image of all of us. I say deport them.

[spytheweb]

01:35 PM on 08/31/2011

You mean illegal aliens not immigrants.

[Ilegal]

06:39 PM on 08/31/2011

I mean all immigrants, regardless of their status.

[Ilegal]

09:09 PM on 08/31/2011

I mean all immigrants, regardless of status.

[jllowery]

08:51 PM on 08/31/2011

I agree. My husband is from Mexico. He came the right way and is now a citizen. As a conservative, my anger with illegal immigration comes from people that come here and exploit the social safety net. People that take no initiative to learn our language, laws, and customs. If you want to come to America then come be an American. Be responsible for yourself and your family as I am. We do need a better system for immigration than what we have now. Like the saying goes, one bad seed spoils the fruit. That is the way most Americans see it. While I have sympathize, the law is the law period. Come the right way, be an American, or don't come at all.