Sen. Grassley: Obama Going Behind Congress' Back On Immigration
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 1:53PMBy Adrianna McGinley
Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), argued Tuesday that the White House is improperly operating behind lawmakers’ backs on immigration policy.
The senator specifically questioned the motive and intention of a memo released by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in August calling to establish a working group to review the cases of hundreds of thousands of undocumented individuals.
“The Obama policies may be an impermissible intrusion on Congress’s plenary authority over immigration law,” Grassley said during an appearance before Judicial Watch, a “conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, [that] promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law”.
In September, Grassley and 18 other senators sent a letter to Obama requesting the new policies be rescinded and that Napolitano be made available to questioning by Congress. She is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“It will be our chance to conduct oversight over her department and their policies,” Grassley said. “You can be sure that prosecutorial discretion will come up. I also plan again, to express my concern with how this administration is enforcing the laws, and whether they are trying to find creative ways to keep as many illegal people in this country.”
Grassley also expressed concern over a memo released last summer giving “prosecutorial discretion” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and “gun walking” that took place under Operation Fast and Furious.
Under the controversial Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) operation, weapons were allowed to “walk” in to the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Two of these weapons were found at the scene of the December murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
“My motivation is to make sure nothing like this ever happens again, and get the truth for the Terry family as well as an untold number of Mexican citizens who may be victims as well,” Grassley said.
Mexican Drug Cartels Under Attack From Multiple Fronts, Says Border Protection Commissioner
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Alan Bersin defended the progress that the Department of Homeland Security has made in protecting the United States' southwest border and stemming the illegal drug flow from Mexico Wednesday.
“We recognize that the [drug war] is a journey that will not be accomplished over night, but the important point is that it is a journey in which the first steps have been taken,” said Bersin during a hearing before a House Appropriations Subcommittee.
Bersin stressed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) currently have one of the best working relationships that they have ever had with the Mexican government.
The CBP seized nearly 500,000 pounds of drugs in the first six months of FY 2010 and has apprehended more than $8 million in illegal currency between ports of entry, according to Bersin.
“These numbers demonstrate the effectiveness of our layered approach to security, comprised of a balance of tactical infrastructure, technology, and personnel at our borders,” said Bersin.
Rep. David Price (D-NC) argued that not enough has been done to eliminate the drug trade, and pointed out that since the Mexican drug cartels were confronted by their President Felipe Calderon, over 18,000 people, including 79 Americans, have been killed in Mexico.
“The truth is the cartels are engaged in criminal activity everyday in cities and communities on both sides of the border, and not just along the border. We need to focus on meaningful ways to deal with cartels and their violence, on the border and beyond,” said Price.
Bersin argued that with the approval of the FY 2011 budget proposal, which would allow $100 million for increased tactical infrastructure construction and improvements, the CBP and ICE could elevate and continue with the ongoing fight against the violence that threatens the United States southern border.