U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta is comparing the federal government’s release of illegal immigrants in advance of sequestration to measures taken by communist Cuba.
“This reminds me of Fidel Castro’s release of criminals in the Mariel Boatlift in 1980,” Barletta said.
President Obama on Thursday ordered the release of hundreds of detained illegal immigrants as a cost-savings measure in advance of the automatic budget cuts. The cuts are slated to go into effect Friday if congressional leaders fail to reach a budget agreement.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this week said her department faced a potential budget cut of $4 billion.
“This is unacceptable, irresponsible and reckless,” Barletta said. “If this is the best cost-savings that Secretary Napolitano can do, then we have to begin to seriously question her judgment.”
Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pennsylvania 11th Congressional District
The second-term congressman garnered national headlines in 2006 as the Hazleton mayor who put in place municipal ordinances that targeted illegal immigrants. Under Barletta’s measures, landlords and employers who contracted out to illegal immigrants faced stiff penalties.
A U.S. Court of Appeals in 2010 struck down the ordinances.
The Obama Administration on Thursday sparked a firestorm over its decision to release illegal immigrant detainees in Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
Barletta's harsh criticism of the Obama Administration move echoed that of other vocal illegal immigration opponents. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told The Washington Post that the release amounted to "pure political posturing" that would endanger public safety.
About 300 illegal immigrants were released from custody in Arizona, a hotbed for the immigration debate and one of the nation’s toughest states against illegal immigration.
While the impending budget cuts have already had an impact on revenue raised by the illegal immigration detention program in York County Prison, no detainees have been released from that program.
York County officials on Thursday said that as a result of the pending funding cuts, York County Prison has seen a decline in the number of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees from a target of 850 to 630. The federal government pays the county prison $83 per day for each detainee. The funding loss will amount to a revenue shortfall of about $18,260 a day.
York County Commissioner Doug Hoke said the prison was not releasing any ICE detainees ahead of budget cuts.
In Arizona, county prison officials who were ordered to release some of their ICE prisoners have harshly criticized the Obama Administration.
Pinal County sheriff Paul Babeau told The Washington Post that the releases amounted to a “mass budget pardon that would put criminals on the streets.”
“These are aliens with felony convictions, who have been released into my county,” Babeau said in an interview.
Pinal County was ordered to release 50 illegal immigrants “without warning and under cloak of secrecy. It’s outrageous,” the sheriff said.
Human rights groups have praised the move as a sensible cost-saving measure; and one that does not put in danger public safety and is consistent with human rights standards.
"We have long advocated for expanded use of alternatives to detention, a step we knew would save taxpayers millions of dollars," said Ruthie Epstein of Human Rights First. "It is a shame that it took the threat of serious budget cuts to prompt this move.
Some lawmakers have balked at comments Obama made suggesting that neither The White House nor Homeland Security had prior knowledge of the decision to release the detainees. Obama said the decision was made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We also are expected to believe that the White House had no knowledge of this. How many times will the administration claim to know nothing about what goes on within its own walls?” Barletta said.
“How many criminals have now been released on our streets? And the president shrugs his shoulders and pretends that someone else is responsible. At a certain point, President Obama must take ownership of what goes on in his own administration.”