According to Morton at least 10 of the individuals released were classified among the highest-risk offenders. “Others released included repeat drunken-driving offenders who, in addition to being in our country illegally, have exhibited behavior that places at-risk every Arizonan innocently sharing our roadways,” said the Governor in a statement released late Thursday.
“Today’s ICE testimony directly contradicts repeated assurances and explanations peddled by the Obama administration in the days after the mass release of illegal aliens became public knowledge. The American people were initially told there were hundreds, not thousands, of individuals released. We were assured they were low-level detainees of little public risk. As we now know, neither of these claims was accurate.
I repeat my request for the Obama administration to finally come clean with critical information pertaining to the release of these individuals. On March 1, 2013, my directors of the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Arizona Department of Homeland Security wrote ICE Director Morton in seeking: the number of illegal aliens released from federal custody into Arizona; their criminal profile; the manner of their ongoing supervision; and any information regarding further planned releases, among other information.”
The Governor said that the State of Arizona has still “received no response. This has gone on long enough. It shouldn’t require a congressional subpoena to extract basic information from the Obama administration regarding actions that directly impact public safety.”
The detainees were supposedly released as a result of sequestration. According to various reports, the cuts could have been surgical; leaving core security services at the same levels. Instead, cuts were made in an effort to stir fear and gain support for the president’s efforts to raise taxes to avoid cuts from sequestration.
Just this week Border Patrol agents report a “Tucson sector station has seen large groups of up to 111 illegal aliens staging at the border and then deftly avoiding all sensors and other surveillance devices. As we warned, it will keep getting worse. Of course, once they all get past us we have ICE to arrest them. No, wait, Janet won’t let ICE do their jobs either. But not to worry, the area where these large groups are congregating is slated to have patrol agents removed next month. That should help the situation.”
According to the agents, “People are getting their throats slashed at Janet Napolitano’s “secure” border in the Tucson sector. Two dead and one severely wounded just this week. The wounded man was able to flag down some Border Patrol agents after crawling for help. We can’t wait to see how Janet’s team spins this one.”