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?

 

“It worked! It worked, I think, a little too well in terms of broadly identifying individuals that had been arrested and charged with crimes,” said Julie Myers-Wood, who directed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency from 2005-2008.

 

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.

 

Read More: Amid sanctuary city debate, Obama administration takes heat for pulling plug on enforcement program | Fox News