Smith: Administration Cooking the Books on Immigration Enforcement

Smith: Administration Cooking the Books on Immigration Enforcement

Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the statement below following the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement of their Fiscal Year 2011 removal numbers.

Chairman Smith:  “The Obama administration continues to inflate its deportation numbers.  The administration includes voluntary removals in its deportation statistics even though they impose no penalties on the offenders and make it easier for illegal immigrants to return to the U.S.  In other words, the Obama administration is cooking the books to make it look like they are enforcing immigration laws, when in reality they are enacting amnesty through inaction.  Under this administration, worksite enforcement has dropped 70%, making it easier for illegal immigrants to live and work in the U.S.  And DHS recently established a working group with the specific purpose of overruling or preventing orders of removal for illegal immigrants.  Even President Obama admitted to Hispanic voters that his administration’s deportation numbers are ‘deceptive.’ 

“It’s disappointing that the Obama administration continues to put illegal immigrants before the American people.  Fourteen million Americans are currently looking for work.  Meanwhile seven million illegal immigrants have jobs in the U.S.  We could free up millions of jobs for citizens and legal immigrants if we simply enforced our immigration laws.  The President’s policies just don’t add up.  It’s time to elect a President that puts the American people first by enforcing our immigration laws.”