department of homeland security
Department of Homeland Security
Summary (posts follow):
Protects the "homeland". Cabinet-level department started by the Bush administration after the September 11 attacks, with the first Secretary being Tom Ridge, who was followed by Michael Chertoff. Agencies included in the DHS are the Secret Service, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and several lesser-known groups.
This site mainly concentrates on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and, to a lesser extent, the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). The first - lately run by Julie Myers - concentrates on looking like they're enforcing our laws at the same time as not really enforcing our laws in order to maintain a ready supply of cheap labor for crooked businesses.
Last modified Dec 10, 2008
Discussed in (click each link for the full post):
Trump admin invites Congress to give amnesty to 100,000+ illegal aliens rather than making smart arguments - 11/20/17
From [1]:
The Trump administration says it will end the temporary status that shelters nearly 60,000 Haitians from deportation, saying the island nation has sufficiently recovered from devastating disasters to take its citizens back.
DHS' Michael Dougherty says Trump admin wants citizenship for DREAMers; DHS' Tyler Q. Houlton says maybe not - 10/03/17
From [1]:
...At a Senate hearing, Republican Senator John Kennedy asked Homeland Security official Michael Dougherty about Dreamers. “Should they be allowed to stay?"
“Under a rational bill these individuals would be able to become lawful permanent residents with a pathway to citizenship," Dougherty, assistant Department of Homeland Security secretary for border, immigration and trade policy, responded.
“So the president believes they should be allowed to stay," Kennedy responded.
Trump continues Obama's DACA for DREAMers. How patriotic Trump fans can respond. - 06/16/17
In a move that won't surprise anyone who's been reading this site, the Donald Trump administration has decided to continue Barack Obama's "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" ("DACA") program. Obama created that program when he wasn't able to pass the DREAM Act; DACA was Obama's amnesty-by-fiat for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens. DACA is horrible public policy that harms American students and workers and foreign countries. And, Trump is continuing it.
DHS admits Obama is deporting fewer illegal aliens than George W. Bush - 03/12/14
So much for the "Deporter in Chief". Pro-illegal immigration activists and incurious members of the establishment media have tried to claim that Barack Obama has deported more illegal aliens than George W Bush.
That's despite the fact that back on September 28, 2011 Obama admitted this [1]:
DHS nominee Jeh Johnson supports Senate immigration amnesty bill, prosecutorial discretion - 12/13/13
Jeh Johnson is the nominee to be the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and it appears he'll be confirmed. He recently sent a letter to Republican senators, obtained by Politico and which is in this PDF file: link.
Senate amnesty: DHS Sec'y could decide to give illegal aliens citizenship (Napolitano) - 02/04/13
From this:
Under a bipartisan Senate framework, Democrats say, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano would have final say over whether the border is secure enough to put 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.
Confirmed: DHS held off on arresting illegal alien intern of Sen. Bob Menendez until after election - 12/12/12
[UPDATE: This has been confirmed, see the update below]
From this (bolding added):
Obama on track to add 200,000+ new legal workers to a weak job market (immigration, amnesty, DREAM Act, Janet Napolitano, DHS, DACA) - 10/26/12
According to Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security [1], over 200,000 illegal aliens have applied to Obama's "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" amnesty.
Democratic Party 2012 platform on immigration: why it's wrong - 09/04/12
The section about immigration in the Democratic Party 2012 platform is below. It only has broad outlines and countless Democratic leaders have repeated these same things many times before.
They were wrong then, and the platform is wrong now (see each link for the details):
GOP 2012 Platform on immigration - 08/29/12
The following are all of the excerpts in the GOP 2012 platform that mention immigration.
The entire text is available here: scribd.com/doc/104097929/Final-Language-GOP-Platform-2012
Obama admin cooked the books: deportations are below 2008 and 2009 - 08/27/12
From their press release [1]:
The House Judiciary Committee has obtained internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents, which show that the Obama administration is cooking the books to achieve their so-called ‘record’ deportation numbers for illegal immigrants and that removals are actually significantly down – not up – from 2009.
Up to 1.8 million illegal aliens will be eligible for Obama's DREAM Act policy - 08/07/12
From this:
Nearly 1.8 million undocumented immigrants could have their deportations suspended for two years, and legally obtain jobs here, under President Obama’s recent policy to give them leniency.
Janet Napolitano admits terrorists cross U.S.-Mexico border "from time to time" - 08/01/12
The video below shows Rep Ron Barber (Democratic Party of Arizona) asking Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security if it's true that there's "material evi
ICE rep: DHS is just letting illegal aliens go (Obama's DREAM Act) - 07/26/12
The video below shows Chris Crane of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council - a union representing 7200 ICE officers and employees - claiming that the orders from the Department of Homeland Security are to just release those who claim to be covered by Obama's DREAM Ac
Supreme Court guts Arizona immigration law SB1070; who won, what to do - 06/25/12
[SEE UPDATE BELOW]
The US Supreme Court has struck down three of the four parts of the Arizona immigration law SB 1070, making the law largely ineffective.
Obama passes DREAM Act by executive fiat; who's to blame; what to do - 06/15/12
The Barack Obama administration has bypassed Congress and passed what amounts to the DREAM Act by executive fiat (link).
Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio help deprive Third World of an honor student (also: Frederica Wilson, David Rivera, Ros Lehtinen, Napolitano, Reid) - 03/08/12
On the surface, the story of an illegal alien Florida honor student who was going to be deported but who now has a two year reprieve (link) sounds like a heartwarming tale; good luck finding anyone in the media not presenting it as such.
Obama admin shutting down 287g immigration enforcement program - 02/17/12
From this:
The Obama administration is starting to shut down a program that deputized local police officers to act as immigration agents.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have trained local officers around the country to act as their agencies' immigration officers. Working either in jails or in the field, the officers can check the immigration status of suspects and place immigration holds on them.
Temporary Protected Status extended 18 more months (El Salvador) - 01/10/12
As you can see by the next link, nothing says "Permanent" quite like Temporary Protected Status. That government program allows foreign citizens to stay in the U.S. on a "temporary" basis due to disasters or strife in their homelands. It's important to note that those covered by it are here legally: they aren't illegal aliens. The issue is that TPS keeps getting extended year after year.
Obama voting push: relaxes Green Card wait time for illegal alien family members (Luis Gutierrez) - 01/06/12
From this:
Obama administration officials announced on Friday that they will propose a fix to a notorious snag in immigration law that will spare hundreds of thousands of American citizens from prolonged separations from immigrant spouses and children.
DHS gives in to Luis Gutierrez demand to halt a deportation; Gutierrez keeps promoting bad policy - 01/04/12
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois) recently attempted to block the deportation of an illegal alien who'd been put in deportation proceedings, and the Department of Homeland Security gave in.
DOJ investigation claims Sheriff Joe Arpaio engaged in "unconstitutional policing" (immigration, Arizona, Maricopa County) - 12/15/11
The Department of Justice's politically-motivated quasi-witchhunt of Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has concluded with a report claiming that Arpaio engaged in "unconstitutional policing" and unreasonably targeted Latinos.
Is Elizabeth Warren fake? (opposes Secure Communities immigration enforcement) - 09/20/11
Elizabeth Warren is a minor leftwing idol who's vying for Scott Brown's Massachusetts senate seat. She's presented by her supporters (in and out of the media) as the great protector of the middle class.
If so, why is she taking a corrupt position that would harm the middle class while helping the rich?
Dozens of pro-illegal immigration groups were invited to Obama's mini-amnesty rollout and you weren't - 08/25/11
On August 18, Barack Obama's Department of Homeland Security announced an administrative amnesty that could cover 300,000 or more illegal aliens.
Obama declares administrative mini-amnesty: will review all 300,000 facing deportation hearings (UPDATE: open the floodgates?) - 08/18/11
Barack Obama has repeatedly stated that he can't declare a blanket amnesty via executive order to cover all the 10-12+ million illegal aliens in the U.S. However, he's just come close by declaring a mini-amnesty that will cover up to 300,000 illegal aliens (link).
Big Business wants more skilled immigration; Alejandro Mayorkas does their bidding as fast as he can (USCIS, U.S. Chamber, NFAP, AILA, Jacoby, USCCB) - 08/18/11
The National Foundation for American Policy has released a compendium of suggestions to increase skilled immigration [1]. The groups offering suggestions include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AILA, and Tamar Jacoby; see [2] for more.
DHS makes Secure Communities nationwide, no opt-out (so far). Lofgren, ACLU, NAKASEC, FIRM, CHIRLA, ICIRR, MIRA, Frank Sharry, NIF outraged. - 08/08/11
From this comes some good news for a change:
The Department of Homeland Security notified 39 governors Friday that the fingerprint-sharing program did not need their approval to operate in their states, and said it had voided agreements they had signed to authorize their states' participation, according to a copy of the letter.
DHS sued for information on criminal illegal aliens turned over to them (Prince William County) - 08/04/11
The press release from Prince William County, Virginia explains it all (link):
DHS now using loopholes to allow more skilled immigration, no legislation required (Alejandro Mayorkas, USCIS) - 08/03/11
The Department of Homeland Security's USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) announced yesterday that they're going to be allowing more skilled immigration, even as millions of Americans - including tech workers - are unemployed.
DHS officials misled about backdoor amnesty for illegal aliens (Houston, John Morton) - 06/27/11
From this:
Homeland Security officials misled the public and Congress last year in an effort to downplay a wave of immigration case dismissals in Houston and other cities amid accusations that they had created a "back-door amnesty," newly released records show.
DHS IG to investigate Secure Communities in [August 2010] (Zoe Lofren) - 05/20/11
[IMPORTANT UPDATE BELOW]
Lax DHS policies resulted in illegal alien drunk driver killing a nun - 03/04/11
Due to lax policies on the part of the Department of Homeland Security, an illegal alien who had been convicted of drunk driving and had a series of other run-ins with police was not deported immediately. Instead, he was put into DHS' "Alternatives to Detention" program and in August 2010 he drove drunk and killed a nun and seriously injured two other nuns.
Read about it here, including the following from a report that the DHS appears to have tried to keep secret:
On May 7, 2009, after Montano served the portion of his sentence that had not been suspended, ICE took him into custody. Based on...
Border Patrol used beanbags against armed bandits (Brian Terry) - 03/03/11
From this:
Border Patrol agents shot beanbags at a group of suspected bandits before the men returned fire during a confrontation in a remote canyon, killing agent Brian Terry with a single gunshot, records show...
...The (FBI) documents say the group of illegal border entrants refused commands to drop their weapons after agents confronted them at about 11:15 p.m. Two agents fired beanbags at the migrants, who responded with gunfire. Two agents returned fire, one with a long gun and one with a pistol, but Terry was mortally wounded in the gunfight...
Terry's brother, Kent Terry, said the...
GAO: DHS has "operational control" of just 44% of the border; only 15% is "controlled" - 02/17/11
According to a new GAO (Government Accountability Office) report, the Department of Homeland Security only has "operational control" of 44% of the U.S.-Mexico border, and only 15% of the border is "controlled" (the highest level that GAO measured). A write-up is here and the PDF is at this link.
On the plus side, the percentage under operational control has been rising over the past five years (see the chart in the PDF). And, in some cases (such as around Big Bend in Texas) the terrain might make crossing much more difficult and thus much less likely than around San Diego. Note also that the...
DHS cover up of WMD smuggled into U.S.? San Diego port CBP official interview - 02/14/11
The video below shows an interview in which a Border Patrol official seems to admit that some form of "mass effect" device, aka WMD, was caught being smuggled into the U.S. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security denies that such an incident ever happened.
Obviously, there are a lot of possibilities here. The DHS could be lying (which wouldn't be surprising). The DHS official could be following orders to try to scare people (see Were terror alerts faked to elect Bush?) If you're on the fringe, maybe the DHS could be planning a false flag operation designed to crack down on civil...
DHS uses Giffords shooting to push loose borders political agenda (Jared Lee Loughner, American Renaissance) - 01/09/11
[IMPORTANT UPDATE: AmRen has been cleared, and Fox's memo wasn't even from the DHS. See the updates below.]
The Department of Homeland Security and various media sources are using the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords by Jared Lee Loughner as an opportunity to try to smear opponents of illegal immigration, focusing on the higher-level white racial separatist group American Renaissance (DHS memo at [1], report at [2]). Not only do they get that group's ideas wrong, but they mislead about what was in Loughner's videos and what appears to have been on his MySpace page.
From the memo at [1]:
no...