Obama’s ICE
Chief Opposes Immigration Enforcement
Monday, July 5, 2010
By Jim Kouri
NewsWithViews.com
Harold Hurtt
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While
scolding the people of state of Arizona for their new immigration
enforcement law, President Barack Obama and his minions repeatedly
demonstrate their lack of enthusiasm for protecting the U.S. borders
and cracking down on illegal (criminal) immigrants, say border security
advocates.
The
Obama Administration recently appointed a police chief -- who believes
in illegal alien sanctuary city policies -- to command an immigration
enforcement program that entails federal agents working with local police
departments on cases involving illegal aliens.
As
part of the Homeland Security Department's anti-terrorism mission, the
new director for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s
Office of State and Local Coordination is now Harold
Hurtt, an outspoken critic of immigration enforcement on the local
level such as Arizona's new immigration enforcement law.
"As
police chief in two different cities with huge illegal alien populations—Phoenix
and Houston—Hurtt enforced don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration
measures that prevented officers from inquiring about a suspects’
legal status in the U.S.," according to officials at Judicial
Watch, a non-partisan, public-interest group that investigates public
corruption.
In
his new post, Hurtt will receive a salary $180,000 a year plus benefits
to oversee outreach and communication between federal immigration staff
and local law enforcement agencies. He is charged with strengthening
the collaboration between local police and federal immigration officials
in an effort to combat a crisis that has rocked practically every major
U.S. city and many small municipalities, according to Judicial Watch
officials.
Homeland
Security officials are promoting Hurtt as “a respected member
of the law enforcement community” who will be an “invaluable
asset to ICE’s outreach and coordination efforts.”
However,
the reality is quite different, say proponents of tough immigration
enforcement. Chief Hurtt is on record opposing immigration enforcement
and as police chief protected the most violent of criminals. Hurtt has
even testified before Congress that local police should not assist with
immigration enforcement, say officials at Judicial Watch.
President
Barack Obama has ordered the Justice Department to fight the Arizona
law, which he claims is racist and unconstitutional. Officials in sanctuary
cities couldn’t agree more and they want illegal aliens in their
beloved city to feel safe.
"We
can expect Chief Hurtt to continue to 'protect' criminal aliens as part
of the Obama Administration's 'national security team" that includes
other leftists who side with criminal aliens such as Attorney General
Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and other
Obama appointees," said former military intelligence officer and
NYPD police detective Mike Snopes.
His
pro-immigration policies enabled illegal immigrants with extensive criminal
histories to murder two police officers and seriously injure another
while he was chief in Phoenix and later in Houston. Judicial Watch filed
a lawsuit against Hurtt on behalf of the deceased Houston officer’s
wife for implementing the sanctuary policies that led to her husband’s
murder at the hands of an illegal alien fugitive.
In
the 2007 incident, Officer
Rodney Johnson was brutally shot by a previously deported illegal
immigrant during a traffic stop. The illegal alien, Juan Quintero, had
an extensive criminal record and had been deported three years earlier
for molesting a child.
The
Mexican national had also been in trouble for driving while intoxicated,
driving with a suspended license and for failing to stop and provide
information after an automobile accident. When Johnson arrested him,
Quintero shot him four times in the back of the head with a 9 millimeter
handgun concealed in the waistband of his pants.
Some
illegal aliens in the United States have been arrested and incarcerated
in federal and state prisons and local jails, adding to already overcrowded
prisons and jails. On April 7, 2007, the US
Justice Department issued a report on criminal aliens that were
incarcerated in federal and state prisons and local jails.
In
the population study of 55,322 illegal aliens, researchers found that
they were arrested at least a total of 459,614 times, averaging about
8 arrests per illegal alien. Nearly all had more than 1 arrest. Thirty-eight
percent (about 21,000) had between 2 and 5 arrests, 32 percent (about
18,000) had between 6 and 10 arrests, and 26 percent (about 15,000)
had 11 or more arrests. Most of the arrests occurred after 1990.
They
were arrested for a total of about 700,000 criminal offenses, averaging
about 13 offenses per illegal alien. One arrest incident may include
multiple offenses, a fact that explains why there are nearly one and
half times more offenses than arrests. Almost all of these illegal aliens
were arrested for more than 1 offense. Slightly more than half of the
55,322 illegal aliens had between 2 and 10 offenses.
"[Hurtt's]
appointment is simply one more nail in the coffin of America's soverignty,"
Det. Snopes said.
Adding
to the White House's unwillingness to stop what's being characterized
as an invasion from Mexico is the fact that instead of walls or chain
link fencing, the U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Department
created the concept of virtual fence. The security proposal includes
surveillance cameras, motion or heat sensing detectors, radar, and supposed
state-of-the-art control towers designed to detect and prevent illegal
immigration and drug smuggling into the United States.
According
to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police,
the security contractor -- Boeing
Co. -- is installing the hi-tech physical security system. The original
plan called for a completion date by December 2009 at a cost of $1.1
billion for a virtual fence. According to the report obtained by NACOP,
Boeing requested that completion date to be amended by seven years.
Physical
security experts told this writer it should surprise no one that a relatively
simple project would become complicated and unmanageable given that
fact that most of the decision-makers probably have no law enforcement,
security or engineering background.
Besides
the problems government officials face with the project's completion,
testimony during the House Homeland Security Committee reveals that
parts of the system that have been installed and placed into service
frequently break down. In fact, the government report revealed that
the hi-tech system rarely helps Border Patrol agents capture illegal
aliens.
However,
some officials still believe the concept and the program of "virtual
fencing" will eventually prove successful in providing Border Patrol
agents valuable assistance.
"We
want to make sure we do this right," said Mark Borkowski, director
of Customs and Border Protection's Secure Border Initiative or SBInet.
"Yes, the [system] works," Borkowski stated emphatically.
So
far, Boeing engineers have finished installation on the 23-mile "Tucson-1"
phase of the project and they are now building "Ajo-1." Tucson-1
and Ajo-1 are locations in the Arizona where SBInet is being installed.
The Boeing fence project is but one part of a $4 billion program to
secure the U.S.'s 2,000-plus mile border with Mexico.
However,
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano last Tuesday stated that
about $50 million originally earmarked for SBInet will be spent on what
she termed "proven technologies," rather than the high-tech
Boeing designed and installed equipment.
Secretary
Napolitano claims her decision is based on an internal security investigation
and vulnerability assessment in which investigators discovered more
than 1,200 defects in SBInet systems within a 16-month period -- March
2008 thru July 2009.
President
Barack Obama has called for budget cuts in the SBInet funding by almost
$300 million.
But
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said during the House hearing that a "dire
situation" that exists on the U.S.-Mexico -- with drug gang murders
in Mexico and illegal immigration -- leaves no time for delays on SBInet.
"There
is a war going on," McCaul said, referring to roughly 6,000 murders
in Mexico last year, most of which are suspected of being drug-related.
"We cannot afford any more timeouts."
The
porous border between the United States and Mexico made it nearly certain
the drug violence would spill over into the United States, he said.
Congress
decided to investigate problems with the virtual fence after the Government
Accountability Office pointed out cost overruns and delays in a
report on SBInet.
Roger
Krone, Boeing's president of network and space systems, said SBInet
would get better as the glitches are worked out of the first parts of
the system, according to the GAO report.
"It
is giving border patrol a significant tactical advantage, especially
in nighttime operations," Krone said during his testimony before
the Congressional committee.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position
is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri's own website is located at jimkouri.us
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