Homeland
Security Sets Up Obama Amnesty Complaint Hotlines For Illegals
Memos say
agencies want to know if federal officials violate ‘new DHS enforcement
priorities’
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Sunday, February 8, 2015
The
Homeland Security Department has set up hotlines for illegal immigrants who
believe their rights under President Obama’s amnesty policy have been violated.
In a memo
announcing the customer complaint line, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
asked illegal immigrants to “please tell us about your experience” if they
believe they were treated “contrary to the new DHS enforcement priorities.”
The
department alerted “stakeholders” last week of three complaint hotlines: one
for CBP, which oversees the Border Patrol; one for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, which handles immigration laws in the nation’s interior; and one
for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is poised to handle the
millions of amnesty applications expected to be filed.
The
amnesty policy grants tentative legal status to up to 4 million illegal
immigrants and orders Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents not to arrest other illegal immigrants who say they have
been hiding in the U.S. for years but don’t meet the
criteria for full amnesty.
Border
Patrol agents said the complaint lines amount to a slap in the face to those
who put their lives on the line to enforce the law.
“Instead
of supporting our agents, this administration has decided it is more important
to find new ways to solicit complaints and invite ridicule against them,” said
Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor
union that represents line agents. “We demand that this administration spend
more time defending the men and women defending our nation and less time
promoting the extreme agendas of pro-illegal-immigration organizations.”
He said he
would like the Homeland Security Department to set up a complaint line for
agents instead, so they could register their concerns over the administration’s
failure to enforce laws involving their own pay, the disparity in the firepower
they bring to the fight with drug cartels and the administration’s “failure to
fully enforce our immigration laws.”
Immigrant
rights advocates, meanwhile, are torn over whether complaints have proved
effective. Some say they are useful, but others say they rarely produce results
and question the department’s ability to investigate complaints against itself.
The
Homeland Security Department and CBP issued memos detailing the customer
complaint lines last week. CBP’s notice included this invitation: “If you
believe you (or a family member) were apprehended and processed by a Customs
and Border Protection officer or Border Patrol agent contrary to the new DHS
enforcement priorities, please tell us about your experience by contacting the CBP INFO Center .”
The
Homeland Security memo says it expects more “questions and feedback” from the
amnesty and lists all three complaint lines.
The Obama
administration has tried to walk a tight line, insisting it is boosting
enforcement even as the president and his political appointees at the Homeland
Security Department have carved an ever-widening circle of illegal immigrants
for protection in order to appease their advocates.
In the
past two years, Mr. Obama has tilted toward the advocates’ position, cutting
deportations 20 percent from 2012 to 2014 even as illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico
border have increased.
In
November, Mr. Obama announced an amnesty for illegal immigrant parents whose
children are American citizens or legal permanent residents, granting them
legal status for three years and work permits entitling them to compete for
jobs. He also expanded a 2012 amnesty for illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
He also
had top officials at the Homeland Security Department issue “guidance” ordering
agents to generally ignore illegal immigrants who have hidden in the U.S. for
some time or who claim other extenuating circumstances.
The
guidance indicates that agents should not bother pursuing illegal immigrants
who don’t have serious criminal records or aren’t recent illegal immigrants,
meaning those who arrived in the U.S. since Jan. 1,
2014 . Even
immigrants convicted of domestic violence may not be “priorities” for
deportation if they were also victims at some point.
The
guidance has confused and angered immigration agents.
Mr. Moran,
testifying to a Senate committee last week, said agents now have to go through
a checklist when they encounter illegal immigrants. Those who give the right
answers are likely to be released.
“The
messaging on the training from CBP has been inconsistent at best,” he said.
Sen. Ron
Johnson, Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, said it sounded as though immigrants only had
to say “magic words” to avoid arrest.
During the
border surge this summer, Mr. Moran said, agents discovered that some of the
illegal crossers had written scripts with them to coach them on what to say to
be released into the U.S.
A Homeland
Security spokeswoman said the hotline memo was intended to make sure
stakeholders knew where to go for information.
“This
provides one place for all stakeholders to find out more about the new DHS
guidelines, deferred action, eligibility for new initiatives, or to register
comment or complaint,” said Ginette Magana, the spokeswoman. “DHS continuously
engages with stakeholders, members of Congress and interested individuals to
provide the most up-to-date information and answer questions about any new
initiatives.”
But the
memos go further. The page providing the complaint hotline for Customs and
Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, specifically invites
complaints from immigrants who believe agents didn’t follow Mr. Obama’s
priorities.
“The CBP
Info Center (CIC) is a toll-free service for individuals with questions about
CBP procedures or who wish to register a complaint about an encounter with CBP
that they believe to be contrary to guidance,” the department says on the CBP
page.
The CBP
page says it has only “limited assistance” available in Spanish for those
calling to complain, but the complaint hotline for ICE specifically says it can
handle calls both Spanish and English.
Homeland
Security has had complaint lines for some time, and Mr. Obama picked a fight
with Congress over an advocacy office in ICE several years ago. Congress
canceled funding for the job, so Mr. Obama changed the title but kept the same
person doing the same work and argued that he met the letter of the law.
Ben Ferro
benferro@insideins.com
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