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Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center's experienced legal staff can speak about the legal ramifications of immigration laws, provide analysis of how immigration policies play out in immigrant communities, and help put reporters in touch with immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who can provide a human face to stories about the U.S. immigration system.


NIJC Press contact:
Tara Tidwell Cullen

 


Home arrow General Immigration arrow ICE head announces resignation after record year for deportations

ICE head announces resignation after record year for deportations Print E-mail
Friday, 07 November 2008
The same week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie Myers announced she will resign November 15, the Boston Globe reported that ICE deportations increased 21 percent in fiscal year 2008.

 

The Globe reports that "nationally, deportations soared to 349,041 for the budget year that ended in September, up from 288,663 the year before."

Myers has been the head of ICE 2005. Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff praised Myers in the ICE press release announcing her resignation, saying he was "grateful for Julie's many contributions to the safety and security of our homeland."


Communities that have been affected by the agency's harshest policies, however, would likely beg to differ with this sentiment. The Des Moines Register this week reported that the town of Postville, Iowa, was thrown into a panic on Election Day when ICE returned to arrest a worker who apparently got away during the May immigration raid there.  Add to that the stories of deaths in detention, family separation, deterioration of due process, and breakdown of trust between immigrant communities and police, and many people would argue that they feel less secure than they did three years ago.


Our country will not truly be a safe and secure homeland until the U.S. government realizes that humane comprehensive immigration reform that respects the rights of all people, and not deportation-focused enforcement measures, are the only real solution to fixing our broken immigration system.

 
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