WASHINGTON -- More than 2,000 immigrants facing deportation in 2013 were released strictly for budget reasons by immigration agency officials who kept the homeland security secretary in the dark about the plan, according to a federal watchdog's report.
This lack of communication led the Obama administration to wrongly deny for weeks that 2,228 immigrants facing deportation had been released, according to the report Tuesday from the Homeland Security Department's inspector general.
It also said officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not adequately plan for the increase in immigrant arrests at the Mexican border and did not track available funds or spending accurately.
Spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said Wednesday that the agency "is committed to addressing the issues identified in the report and has already begun developing plans of action."
Citing internal budget documents, The Associated Press reported on March 1, 2013, that the administration had released more than 2,000 immigrants in the preceding two weeks and planned to release 3,000 more amid the looming budget cuts.
The White House and the Homeland Security Department disputed AP's reporting until March 14, when the then-ICE director, John Morton, acknowledged to Congress during a hearing that the agency had released 2,228 people from immigration jails, starting that Feb. 9, for what he described as "solely budgetary reasons."
At the time, Morton told lawmakers that the decision to release the immigrants was not discussed in advance with political appointees, including those in the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. He said the pending automatic cuts known as sequestration were "driving in the background."
Data published by the government in May of this year revealed that the Homeland Security Department released 36,007 convicted criminal immigrants in 2013 who are facing deportation. That total includes those accounting for 193 homicide and 426 sexual assault convictions. The immigrants nearly all still face deportation and are required to check in with immigration authorities while their deportation cases are pending.
