H******i
发帖数: 4704 | 1 把人关起来是要管饭的，所以本篇新闻的关键词是budget cuts
Release of About 300 Illegal Immigrants From Federal Custody in Arizona
Stirs Up Debate
2013-02-28 01:50:12.964 GMT
Feb. 28 (Washington Post) -- TUCSON— The release of about 300 illegal
immigrants from federal custody in Arizona this week has raised a firestorm
of controversy in this volatile border state, which has one of the nation's
toughest laws against illegal immigration and is home to highly vocal groups
on both sides of the debate.
Senior Republican officials in the state, including Gov. Jan Brewer and
Sen. John McCain, sharply criticized the releases, which the Obama
administration said it is carrying out in several states in anticipation of
budget cuts under sequestration.
Brewer, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, called the move "pure
political posturing" that would endanger public safety.
McCain, a moderate who has been working with Senate colleagues on a
plan for comprehensive immigration reform, said he was "very concerned"
about the releases because they are an early indicator of what could happen
if sequestration goes into effect Friday. "These people should not be
released," he said.
"There's a reason why they were incarcerated."
Paul Babeau, sheriff of Pinal County, called the releases a "mass
budget pardon" that would put criminals on the streets.
"These are aliens with felony convictions, who have been released into my
county," he said in an interview. Babeau said about 50 illegal immigrants
had been freed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the Pinal
County jail, which he oversees, "without warning and under cloak of secrecy.
It's outrageous."
Several human rights organizations and legal aid groups here said the
freed immigrants posed no threat to the public, had not committed serious
offenses and should have been freed long ago rather than being kept in
custody at government expense. They described some of the immigrants as
innocent victims of Arizona's strict law, in which local police are required
in many cases to turn over suspected illegal immigrants to federal
officials.
"These people should have been released a long time ago,"
said Sarah Lanius, a spokeswoman for No More Deaths, a non-profit group in
Tucson that runs free legal clinics for illegal immigrants. "Every person
who comes to our clinic is out on bond from detention and following through
on their removal proceedings," she said. "They were stopped in silly traffic
cases or other situations, and they have no business being put through all
this. It is a direct contradiction of what the administration promised."
Lindsay Marshall, executive director of a group called the Florence
Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, echoed this opinion. She said her
staff members regularly meet and counsel detainees at all four of Arizona's
detention facilities and that many have no need to be in custody. About 2,
300 immigrants are still in custody across the state after this week's
releases.
"There are a lot of people in detention who simply don't need to be
there," Marshall said. She declined to identify anyone who had been released
, but she said many were people who had minor criminal convictions, if any,
as well as strong family ties in the United States. "There are alternatives
to incarceration that are both less punitive and expensive," she said. "
These are mostly people ICE categorizes as low level, and we definitely
think this should be a lot wider."
An ICE spokeswoman in Phoenix said in a statement that the releases
were carried out because of "fiscal uncertainty" over budget cuts and
possible sequestration. She said all those released would still be processed
for deportation and will "not be let off the hook," but that "priority for
detention remains on serious criminal offenders who pose a significant
threat to public safety."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said this week that her
department faced a potential budget cut of $4 billion.
She said the government currently has about 32,800 beds for illegal
immigrants in detention, at an average cost of $164 per day. In addition to
Arizona, the government released incarcerated illegal immigrants this week
in California, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
Some law enforcement officials here said they could see both sides of
the issue and complained that political grandstanding had made it nearly
impossible for officials and experts in Arizona to find a reasonable
compromise on how to handle illegal immigrants.
"I hope those they have released were only involved in border-crossing.
It they were involved in other criminal acts, that would concern me much
more," Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said in an interview. But he
added that such issues had been hijacked by rhetorical extremism. "No matter
what you do, people on both sides scream that it's all political," he said.
"You don't know what to believe, and it makes it hard to solve the problem."
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-0- Feb/28/2013 01:50 GMT | B*****g
发帖数: 34098 | 2 挺好的，反正早晚人家还是会转正的
illegal
firestorm
s
groups
and
【在 H******i 的大作中提到】
: 把人关起来是要管饭的，所以本篇新闻的关键词是budget cuts
: Release of About 300 Illegal Immigrants From Federal Custody in Arizona
: Stirs Up Debate
: 2013-02-28 01:50:12.964 GMT
: Feb. 28 (Washington Post) -- TUCSON— The release of about 300 illegal
: immigrants from federal custody in Arizona this week has raised a firestorm
: of controversy in this volatile border state, which has one of the nation's
: toughest laws against illegal immigration and is home to highly vocal groups
: on both sides of the debate.
: Senior Republican officials in the state, including Gov. Jan Brewer and
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发帖数: 833 | |
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