ICE Removed Over 72,000 Illegals Fron Arizona in 2008, Now Refuses to Do So Under SB 1070

The federal government has basically declared war on Arizona. What else can you call this?

A top Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper reports.

"I don't think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution," Morton told the newspaper.

The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach, he said, and not a patchwork of state laws.

The law, which criminalizes being in the state illegally and requires authorities to check suspects for immigration status, is not "good government," Morton said.

Yet while Morton's boss, Big Sis Napolitano, was Governor of Arizona in 2008, ICE removed over 72,000 illegals.

The Phoenix office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was expecting a record year of deportations in 2008, but the final numbers exceeded predictions.

A news release just put out by ICE states the agency removed 72,955 illegal immigrants in its fiscal 2008, which ended in September, compared to 44,376 removed the previous year.

Stepped-up efforts by ICE's little-known Detention and Removal Operations division, combined with a program to deport illegal immigrants straight from the Maricopa County Jail made the new record possible, as reported in a New Times feature article last month. New police policies are likely to keep those numbers growing in coming months, as the article detailed.

I guess the difference between now and then was we had a federal governemnt that was not at war with its citizens.

“We made a commitment to the American people to embark on an ambitious enforcement strategy aimed at securing our borders and strengthening our nation’s immigration system,” said Julie L. Myers, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE. “The record results seen across the country reflect significant, steady progress toward this goal. The men and women at ICE, along with our law enforcement partners, deserve our thanks for their hard work and dedication.”

We now have Myers' successor basically refusing to do his job.