By AATTP Contributor, Han Chimpson
In the face of the looming sequester and the $85 billion that would be cut from the Federal Budget on March 1st if it takes effect, the Federal government has released hundreds of detained illegal immigrants. The number is sure to grow if an agreement is not made between Democrats and Republicans by the deadline.
The move is being touted as a “cost-saving” measure, since the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be facing a 5% budget reduction should the sequester cuts kick in.
TEApublicans appear to be flummoxed by the move, implying that it is a political stunt and a scare tactic on the part of the Obama administration, as negotiations continue.
Arizona Senator John McCain tweeted:
Was this really the only way to save money?
We can just imagine his angry “get off my lawn!” expression as he envisions dozens of illegal immigrants being released in his ultra-conservative home state!
And House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), proves that TEApublicans are still experts when it comes to distorting the truth with his comments on the matter.
It’s abhorrent that President Obama is releasing criminals into our communities to promote his political agenda on sequestration. By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the administration is needlessly endangering American lives.
Never mind that Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for ICE, stated that the detainees being released were not ones with criminal records and were determined not to pose a threat to the public. A reported 45% of all detainees do not have criminal records, and since less than 5% of all detainees are being released, it’s a pretty good bet that none of them are the hardened criminals of which Goodlatte speaks.
Goodlatte also said this…
Unfortunately, this Administration has a poor record of enforcing our immigration laws and has routinely sought to undermine them.
… and is apparently unaware that under President Obama, more illegal immigrants have been deported from the United States than under any other president.
The Weeping Cheeto, otherwise known as John Boehner, whined, er, chimed in:
This is very hard for me to believe that they can’t find cuts elsewhere in their agency. I frankly think this is outrageous. And I’m looking for more facts, but I can’t believe that they can’t find the kind of savings they need out of that department short of letting criminals go free.
Cue sobbing sounds…
Well, the TEApublicans wanted cuts to the Federal budget, but apparently, they were caught off-guard by this move by the Obama administration, who appears to have the early advantage in this political game of chess. It could be worse – it could be their salaries that are being cut. We think that would be an even better idea!
Han Chimpson spends a lot of time monkeying around at the Ayn Rand Collected Social Security page, and thinks you are cool enough to do the same.
Progressive Populist
It is truly a sad state when “We the People” have to have actions taken against us by our government, Both sides of it! Why don’t they cut the spending to DHS, The President’s trips, quit sending money to foreign countries who oppose us or fund our enemies or burn our flags, and down scale the senate and house paychecks? I’ll bet something would definitely happen then!
Check !
Boehner’s comment “they can’t find cuts elsewhere in their agency?…” really means, “Can’t they just lay a few people off?” The Republicans that are all about “jobs”, the “jobs” that they refuse to approve funding to create. This is hilarious frankly, it feels like a check mate. What the hell did they expect? This is just the beginning, if they force this through and funding dries up there will have to be more of this sort of thing, prisons releasing non violent inmates early, etc. Why won’t they all just grow up and do their job? Make some compromises and move on?
Good on the Obama Administration. That sequester was set up from the git-go, to contain cuts that would be unpalatable to both sides, and what worried me was that POTUS might cave to the Right by getting rid only of the ones they hated. He’s said so many times that he wants to “reform entitlements” (AKA cut programs that help regular people) that I believe he really means it. I am glad to see him putting effort into stopping this egregious sequestration.
Oh, and re. undocumented workers: You can make anything illegal, and then by definition, the people that do it will be “criminals”. For instance, in San Francisco sitting on the pavement is illegal, this conveniently criminalizing a lot of harmless people who just don’t happen to have homes to go to. If you want to get down to who’s actually got the right to the land, isn’t there part of New Mexico that isn’t really ours, according to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
As a person of Mexican decent and as an American citizen who has been victimized not only by over enthusiastic law enforcement officials but also by funding being cut from social programs, I find this
move by the current administration to be a much needed kick in the pants to the republicans and to show them that if they want to play hard ball then they have some lessons to learn
I think it was a perfect move on the part of the administration. What I find so distasteful is the remarks that these people are criminals. The only thing they did wrong is think that to come to our country would be better than where they were. I am sure by now, they realize their error and would love to be anywhere but here. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just ‘ship’ all those Americans that are unwilling to live ‘nicely’ together and learn how to share off to that ‘station on the moon’ that was newt Gingrich great idea? Isn’t it interesting that the GOP never considered that these cuts would also be to ‘programs’ they find necessary? Did you see where they are trying to petition to not let go of air control traffic personnel but want the president to do it, not them, because after all this is all the presidents idea and the democrats that refuse to work. Hopefully by now most Americans are quite aware of who and what party is to blame and won’t forget when it comes time to vote. It will be up to all of us to make sure that people don’t forget.