ICE Agents Say Obama's Claim of Fewer Illegals is Bogus

THE LID - Posted by Jeff Dunetz at Wednesday, May 16, 2012

According to Barack Obama's spin machine the barrage of people sneaking into the U.S. from across the Mexican border has slowed down and illegals are actually leaving the country.  According to some border patrol agents, the tide hasn't slowed its just that their hands have been tied so there are fewer illegals arrested.  To back up the the border agents financial data indicates that there is more money being transferred from immigrants to Mexico than in previous years.

Federal law enforcement officials interviewed by TheWashington Examiner say security is being compromised as the government seeks to keep a lid on the border as a campaign issue during the presidential election cycle. Department of Homeland Security's Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are being told not to make arrests of noncriminal illegal immigrants, and not to patrol areas of high traffic along the roughly 2,000-mile Southwest border.

A Border Patrol official working along the Texas border said administration officials are deliberately failing to document what is actually happening on the border. "In many cases my supervisors make it clear that they don't want increased apprehension numbers, which means no arrests," he said.

The government is also failing to patrol hundreds of miles of federal wildlife reserves that fall under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department. That has given smugglers and illegal immigrants a clear corridor to enter the county and has skewed national arrest figures, an official said. The U.S. is allowing "drug and human smugglers in without a fight" in parts of the Southwest, he said.

T.J. Bonner, former president of the National Border Patrol Council, said recent reports stating that immigration has declined are not substantiated by the facts. He said Border Patrol agents are being hampered by numerous restrictions.

"For every illegal crosser who is arrested, two get away," Bonner said.

According to Mexico's largest bank, The Bank of Mexico,

remittances totaled $3.29 billion in January and February, up 7.9 percent over the same period last year. Remittances to Mexico are on a pace to total about $19.7 billion this year, according to the recent reports.

According ICE agents American citizens are being fed a metric ton of Grade A crappola.

We are in a constant battle with higher-ups to do our job. The problem is if we did it right, the numbers wouldn't add up" -- that is, they wouldn't support the administration's desire to keep the immigration issue off voters' minds in 2012, he said.

Chris Crane, president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, said the administration is attempting to change everyone's mind by cherry-picking data to boost ICE deportations and keep border numbers low.

ICE officers are often ordered not to make arrests of noncriminal aliens and "supervisors have been ordered not to put anything in writing," said Crane, who testified to this before the Senate Judiciary Committee and whose union represents roughly 5,500 ICE officers.

A senior ICE official pointed to statistics that showed the agency is doing everything possible with its level of funding. ICE is tasked by Congress with removing 400,000 people a year. As of May 5, ICE has already removed 229,664 people, of which 118,430 were convicted criminal aliens, he said.

Then again, much of what our President is telling us is nothing but Grade A crappola.