More on ICE and Julie Myers

Perhaps the interviewer should have asked Myers about the current trend of ICE detaining pregnant women?

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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-myers22dec22,1,144034.story?ctrack=7&cset=true
From the Los Angeles Times
Q & A

New ICE chief discusses raids, goals
Julie Myers says additional oversight and reduced expenses have helped her agency cope with an increase in arrests of employers and illegal immigrants.
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

December 22, 2007

WASHINGTON — In the contentious arena of immigration enforcement, Julie L. Myers sits in one of the hot seats. Myers is the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for finding and deporting illegal immigrants. When appointed by President Bush in 2005, Myers was criticized for her relative youth (she was 36), limited experience and personal connections to the administration. She was confirmed Wednesday by the Senate after a few uncertain weeks in which critics questioned her judgment and commitment to targeting employers of illegal immigrants. Myers won confirmation with the backing of ICE employees, some of whom went to Capitol Hill to testify on her behalf. She spoke to The Times about ICE's record, its controversial immigration raids, Congress' failure to overhaul immigration laws and her goals for next year.

What has ICE accomplished in 2007 in terms of immigration enforcement?

On the work-site enforcement side, both our criminal arrests [of employers] and administrative arrests [of illegal immigrants] are up well over 100%. We have transformed detention and removal by ending "catch and release" [in which illegal border-crossers were immediately let go because of a lack of detention space]. That is essential if you're seeking to restore the integrity of the immigration system. And we have reduced the time that other-than-Mexican detainees are held. The average length of stay has gone down from 90 days to 37.5 days -- that's good for taxpayers; that's good for the aliens.

In a number of high-profile ICE raids last year, children were separated from their parents when the parents were detained and deported. Has ICE made any policy changes to address this issue?

After New Bedford [the Massachusetts city where dozens of children of illegal immigrants were stranded after their parents were arrested in a raid], we partnered with the Division of Immigration Health Services . . . to do an initial triage to ask people about sole-caregiver and medical issues. We found that sometimes in raids people were not telling us the truth when we asked if they had children, but we found they were more willing to tell DIHS the truth. We're always looking to see if we can improve, but I will say our immigration laws put people in a difficult situation sometimes -- I mean, the folks who come into our country illegally, then have a child and put that child at risk.

When you were first appointed in 2005, a lack of detention space made it hard to detain illegal immigrants caught at the border. What is the situation now?

We need to be smarter and need to look at alternatives, like the electronic travel document program. You can't send someone back to their country until you get a valid travel document from that country. In the past, it was couriered or FedExed. Now we have partnerships with countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. We provide computers and a link to share information that the alien provides, including their criminal history, and these countries can provide back to us an electronic travel document that we can use to send the person on their way. It reduces the time to get the document from several weeks to days.

Promoting "Black Face" is OK for ICE

ICE in a bag










Apparently the U.S. Senate thinks it is ok for ICE to have a director that approves of white people appearing in black face at company parties... It must be easy for them to forget all the times that Myers has said that ICE is performs its job with compassion - Remember the Bedford MA ICE raid? Or the prison-like atmosphere of Hutto detention center in Texas? Myers has had excuses for any number of atrocities. Each time I have seen her on television or read about absurd statements (that ICE is doing a great job) in the newspaper I just want to cringe. It's a wonder that our senators could so easily forgive this.

A shade of nepotism? Perhaps it is because Myers is so well connected.. Her uncle is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, her husband is the U.S. Attorney in Kansas City, MO (a recent appointment, did he replace on of the U.S. attorneys that was driven away by Gonzalez' illegal directives?)

Lastly, for all the African Americans that are developing a hate for immigrants... they should take note of Myer's actions. She is no friend of immigrants or blacks. You might want to check out this article that appeared in the December 19, 2007 edition of the Huffington Post: "The Racist Roots of the Anti-Immigration Movement." http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=475&Itemid=1

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Senate OKs Myers for Immigration Job
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 20, 2007; 12:01 AM

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Julie L. Myers as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two years after President Bush appointed her to the position amid questions about her qualifications to lead the government's second-largest law enforcement agency.

Myers was among more than 30 people whose appointments were approved by a voice vote of the Senate as it concluded its session.

Bush had used a recess appointment in 2005 to put Myers, then 36, in charge of ICE, the branch of the Homeland Security Department that enforces immigration laws, when the Senate appeared unlikely to confirm her. Although she was a former Treasury official and assistant U.S. attorney, lawmakers debated whether she had enough experience to lead the agency.

Critics also noted her personal connections within the Bush administration. She was engaged _ and is now married _ to John F. Wood, who was chief of staff to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and is now the U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo. Ret. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is her uncle.

Myers herself was Chertoff's chief of staff when he led the Justice Department's criminal division. However, her appointment in 2005 came after Hurricane Katrina, which brought criticism over the experience of those handling the federal response to the disaster.

Her appointment ran into trouble again this fall when she gave the "most original" costume award to a white employee who came to the agency's Halloween party dressed as an escaped prisoner with dreadlocks and darkened skin. The incident drew complaints of racial insensitivity and elicited an apology from Myers.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the Senate's most vocal opponent of Myers' permanent appointment as head of ICE, placed a hold on her nomination after the Halloween incident. The senator's spokeswoman, Adrianne Marsh, said McCaskill "still believes Julie Myers isn't focused enough on employer enforcement and she's not the right pick, but there simply were not enough votes to oppose her nomination."

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the Senate's approval validates Myers' hard work and accomplishments.

ICE was formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when parts of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs agencies were merged.

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Associated Press writer Sam Hananel contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122002805.html
photo: http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/783/470544.JPG