Smith: Deportation Manual a Hospitality Guideline for Illegal Immigrants
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently released over 400 pages of new Performance Based National Detention Standards that dramatically expand privileges and resources to illegal immigrants in federal custody. Specifically, the administration’s new detention manual drastically expands medical and mental health services for illegal immigrants far and beyond regulations or law, increases access to legal services, institutes an extensive complaint process, and increases visitation, recreation, and numerous options for diet.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the statement below criticizing ICE’s new detention manual.
Chairman Smith: “The Obama administration’s new detention manual is more like a hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants. The administration goes beyond common sense to accommodate illegal immigrants and treats them better than citizens in federal custody. The new detention manual contains extensive and customized details for each illegal immigrant’s stay, regulating everything from the salad bar to recreational activities to medical care. Illegal immigration already costs American taxpayers billions each year and these increased regulations force them to keep an open tab for illegal immigrants.
“This new manual is not a surprise - it’s just part of a broader pattern made by the Obama administration to reward lawbreakers. This administration has already granted backdoor amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants and has appointed a taxpayer-funded advocate to lobby for them.
“Our detention system is in need of reform but not the kind the administration supports. We should increase detention space, but the President’s budget makes substantial cuts to it and instead leaves illegal and criminal immigrants free to roam our communities. The Obama administration consistently puts illegal immigrants ahead of the interests of American citizens and taxpayers. Whose side is the President on?”
The Immigration Subcommittee plans to hold a detention oversight hearing at the end of March.