The President’s Priorities and John Morton’s Quota are Completely Incompatible
February 15, 2013 – Washington, DC.
In response to the revelations in this morning’s USA Today that ICE agents believed careers were tied to boosting deportation numbers and the tactics they used to do so, Chris Newman, Legal Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:
“The Obama administration’s decision to recruit local police as ‘force multipliers‘ in immigration enforcementwas fully about meeting deportations and not at all about public safety. Setting immigration policy by a deportation quota runs counter to every talking point the Obama administration has used in the past five years. It has endangered public safety. It offends both constitutional values and it has led to grave civil rights violations.
While the President touts that enforcement has become prioritized, the data reveals that John Morton has driven it in the opposite direction. Instead of sharpening its focus, John Morton pushed agents to widen their dragnets to catch anyone who could help meet quota. It’s the exact reason why the first step in immigration reform must be a suspension of deportations.”
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network served as counsel in the civil rights suit against Arizona’s SB1070 and has led efforts to uncover the truth regarding deportation policies through Freedom of Information Act litigation with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE on the national level, in Georgia, and Los Angeles.
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