WASHINGTON — The federal government has begun releasing “several hundred” illegal immigrants from detention centers, blaming the impending federal sequester.
The move is the most dire so far as the federal government faces $85 billion in across-the-board cuts known as the sequester, beginning Friday. The immigrant release was immediately met with outrage.
“By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the administration is needlessly endangering American lives,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned this week that she might not be able to keep all of the 34,000 mandated jail beds for illegal immigrants facing deportation.
Serious criminals and those posing a public-safety threat will remain jailed, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gillian Christensen.