Judicial Watch » ICE

Two Lawsuits against DHS over Documents about “Free” Birth Control, Abortion and Sex Changes

jfarrell — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:12:21 +0000

Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed two lawsuits against the U.S. Department Homeland Security (DHS) for failure to respond to its requests for public records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The documents relate to the nature of health services and birth control services prescribed and/or provided to female and transgender detainees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) based on revised detention standards published by ICE in 2011 (Judicial Watch v. United States Department of Homeland Security (No. 12-cv-0215 and No. 12-cv-0216)).

As stated in the ICE document Performance-Based National Detention Standards 2011, “upon request, appropriately trained medical personnel within their scope of practice shall provide detainees with non-directive (impartial) advice and consultation about family planning and birth control, and where medically appropriate, prescribe and dispense birth control.” The revised standards also specify conditions under which “ICE will assume the costs associated with a female detainee’s decision to terminate a pregnancy” in the case of rape or incest.

With regard to transgender detainees, the document notes that those “already receiving hormone therapy when taken into ICE custody shall have continued access to” and shall be provided with “transgender-related health care and medication based on medical need.”

On September 24, 2012, Judicial Watch sent a FOIA request to ICE, which is part of the DHS, seeking access to the following:

Any and all records pertaining to family planning or birth control services provided to detainees in ICE’s custody.

Any and all records pertaining to the termination of pregnancies by female persons in ICE’s custody, including records concerning transportation arranged for or provided to detainees for the purpose of receiving abortion services and any and all records regarding costs associated with such services.

On the same day, Judicial Watch sent a separate FOIA request to ICE seeking access to any and all records pertaining to hormone therapy and other health care services and medications provided to transgender detainees of ICE, as well the cost of any such services.

In both cases, the records being sought are for Fiscal Year 2011, or from October 1, 2010, through September 30, 2011. The requests specifically stated that no information was being sought about the identity of any detainee or health care provider.

ICE has acknowledged receipt of both requests. A response regarding Judicial Watch’s request for records related to birth control services was due on November 19, 2012. A response to Judicial Watch’s request for records related to health services for transgender detainees was due on November 6, 2012. To date ICE has failed to respond to either these FOIA requests, prompting Judicial Watch’s lawsuits.

“It will surprise most Americans to know that illegal alien detainees can receive birth control, sex change procedures, and abortions courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “This is an embarrassing scandal for the Obama administration, which is why the administration has violated the law in refusing our requests for information.”

Feds Secretly Free Dangerous Criminals Instead of Deporting Them

Irene — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:41:08 +0000

The gigantic U.S. immigration system operates under a cloak of secrecy, releasing thousands of dangerous criminals who avoid deportation and commit deadly crimes after being freed by the feds, a disturbing newspaper series reveals.

The three-part series (“Justice in the Shadows”) was published this week by Massachusetts’ largest newspaper after a yearlong investigation into what’s become the nation’s biggest law enforcement network after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It is recommended reading for those interested in national security issues that affect everyone living in the U.S.

The vast and secretive U.S. prison system for immigrants has quietly released thousands, including killers, the investigation found. Last year alone, the system detained a record 429,247 immigrants but a culture of secrecy prevents the public from knowing their name. While the feds release hardcore criminals, thousands with no record—including the sick and elderly—are held for months in centers that treat them like delinquents.

Clearly the system is in disarray and a lack transparency only makes things worst. Part one of the newspaper series outlines this recipe for disaster and focuses on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) routinely releases dangerous detainees to the streets of America without warning the public. In the past four years ICE has freed more than 8,500 detainees convicted of murder, rape and other crimes, according to the agency’s own statistics quoted in the story.

A disturbing number of foreigners have been arrested after their release, the probe found, including some for heinous crimes. The article includes a number of examples, including a murder so gruesome it made international headlines in 2010. It involved a Chinese illegal immigrant who was supposed to get deported after serving time for brutally assaulting his neighbor years earlier. Instead, ICE quietly let him go without warning the victim. The illegal alien came back to stab the woman and rip her heart and lungs out of her body.

Here are some other cases; an armed robber from Cuba shot and killed a Florida woman after getting released by ICE, reportedly because his native country wouldn’t take him back. In another, an armed robber from Vietnam massacred five people in San Francisco after ICE freed him, also because he couldn’t be deported. A Liberian national who went to jail for shooting a man kidnapped and robbed two people in Rhode Island after the feds released him. A Vietnamese man on parole for a previous felony murdered a teenaged girl and her mother during a kidnapping.

There are dozens of other examples that prove federal officials are releasing people that they know are dangerous without bothering to warn the public or notify crime victims. The culture of secrecy can be deadly to Americans and foreigners alike, the new

U.S. Detention Manual “Hospitality Guideline For Illegal Immigrants”

Irene — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:29:02 +0000

In a never-ending mission to accommodate illegal immigrants, the U.S. government has issued new federal detention standards offering arrestees a number of outrageous perks, including female hormone treatments for transgender men, abortions for women and “ethnically diverse” diet options.

It’s all part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to reform the immigration detention system so that its more humane, according to the Homeland Security agency—Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—responsible for the revamping. The “revised standards” will also improve medical and mental health services, increase access to legal services and religious opportunities, improve the process for reporting and responding to complaints and offer detainees with limited English proficiency translators.

Illegal immigrants will also receive generous and ethnically diverse options for a “nutritionally balanced diet,” an increase in visitation and better recreation programs and facilities. For instance, undocumented aliens in U.S. custody will now have access to a variety of exercise equipment, mandatory outdoor time in natural light and recreational options such as soccer, volleyball and basketball. Board games and television will be available as “sedentary activities.”

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, says the new ICE detention manual sounds like a “hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants.” In a written statement posted on the committee’s website, Smith points out that the revised standards dramatically expand privileges and resources to illegal immigrants in federal custody “far and beyond” what’s required by law.

“The administration goes beyond common sense to accommodate illegal immigrants and treats them better than citizens in federal custody,” Congressman Smith said. “The new detention manual contains extensive and customized details for each illegal immigrant’s stay, regulating everything from the salad bar to recreational activities to medical care.”

He further points out that illegal immigration already costs American taxpayers billions of dollars each year and this new detention system will only add to the tab. “The Obama administration consistently puts illegal immigrants ahead of the interests of American citizens and taxpayers,” Smith added.

ICE Keeps Seizing Music Sharing Websites

akajas — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:53:29 +0000

The Homeland Security agency primarily responsible for shielding the country from foreign threats and removing dangerous illegal immigrants has been quite busy confiscating internet websites that help users download copyrighted music and movies.Its part of the Obama Administration’s effort to regulate the internet and control its content, though the official explanation is that the government simply wants to crack down on piracy and protect intellectual property. The feds are seizing the domains seemingly at will, according to industry insiders who claim that many don’t even host copyrighted material.So far Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has shut down 128 file-sharing music and movie websites as part of “Operation In Our Sites.” Anyone who clicks on the confiscated domains is greeted with a message that says they’ve been seized by ICE-Homeland Security investigations and reminds that copyright infringement is a federal crime that carries penalties of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.Six websites were seized over the weekend, according to a blog that covers digital issues and has closely tracked the government operation since it was launched last year. All were shut down without warning because they were “associated with copyright infringement and counterfeiting.” The owner of one domain said the seizure was “pointless” and will soon be back with a different name.Halting the unauthorized sharing of hip-hop tunes may seem strange for a federal agency that claims on its web site to have a primary mission of promoting homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration. All the while, ICE fails to do its most important job of deporting violent illegal immigrant criminals and punishing companies that knowingly hire large numbers of undocumented workers.A number of cases in the last year help illustrate the agency’s shortcomings in these areas. For instance a drunken illegal alien with a criminal history and a revoked license killed a nun inVirginia because ICE released him on his own recognizance after two previous arrests. Judicial Watch has sued the Department of Homeland Security for records related to how the agency dropped the ball in the tragic case.A few weeks after the nun’s death another illegal alien, released by the agency while he awaited deportation, killed two people in a working-class Massachusetts city. A number of similar cases have also been reported through the years.ICE has also been derelict in punishing companies that hire large numbers of illegal immigrants, even after audits determine rampant violations. Internal ICE records obtained by a Houstonnewspaper last year reveal that the agency has allowed hundreds of companies throughout the U.S. to get away with hiring illegal aliens by closing audits that determine high percentages of workers with “questionable” documents. Maybe if the businesses download pirate music, they’ll get busted.

ICE Waits Months To Warn Agents Of Gang Hit Plots

akajas — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:44:42 +0000

President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security endangered the lives of federal officers by waiting months to alert them of a notoriously violent Salvadoran gang’s plots to murder Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and their families.The daunting information was brought to Judicial Watch by outraged Homeland Security sources that provided the written memo warning ICE agents in the U.S. that the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) had specific plans to kill agents and their families in Virginia and Maryland. The problem is that Janet Napolitano’s agency sat on the intelligence for two months while federal officers risked their lives to protect the nation.As early as March the FBI obtained reliable information that a high-ranking MS-13 gang banger in El Salvadorordered the hit on ICE agents and their family members, according to Homeland Security sources. The FBI informant also said that MS-13 members who killed any ICE agent in Maryland or northern Virginia would get a $50,000 reward.For unknown reasons, Homeland Security officials sat on the information until this week while unsuspecting agents performed their duties. Distributed as an internal “Officer Safety Advisory,” the alert says that the agency is forwarding the information for “rapid awareness due to the threat specificity and the current elevated concern regarding drug cartel violence against US law enforcement personnel.”The MS-13 is a feared street gang of mostly illegal immigrants that’s spread throughout the U.S. and perpetrates violence to intimidate rival gangs, law enforcement and the general public, according to the FBI. In 2008 three atrocious MS-13 crimes received worldwide media attention. In San Francisco an MS-13 gang banger murdered a father and son with an assault weapon because their car blocked his from making a turn. In Los Angeles an MS-13 member just released from prison murdered a high school football star as the teen jock walked home from the mall. In Maryland a 14-year-old honors high school student was shot to death on a crowded public bus by an illegal alien who proudly revealed he belonged to the MS-13.A few years ago the Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) published a report that said criminal street gangs like the MS-13 are responsible for the majority of violent crimes in the U.S. and are the primary distributors of most illicit drugs. Why on earth would Homeland Security officials wait to inform their own agents about specific death threats from this established criminal enterprise?

Hundreds Of Illegal Immigrant Felons Released In U.S.

akajas — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:37:22 +0000

A Homeland Security program created to deport incarcerated illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes has failed to identify hundreds of dangerous felons—including child molesters and drug dealers—who instead have been released in theU.S. upon completing their sentence.It marks the latest of many failures on the part of the massive federal agency charged with keeping America safe. The idea behind the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Criminal Alien program is to remove violent illegal aliens before they are released from federal and state prisons nationwide. Thousands have been deported, but more than 800 were released into the general population in one year.Many of them are “recidivist criminals who pose a significant public safety risk,”according to a Homeland Security Inspector General report released this week. Investigators took a sampling from 2009 and found that federal officials failed to identify 890 illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes, including assault, firearms possession and drug-related offenses.Most of the criminals who were released back into society were jailed in state facilities in California and Texas. Many of them are among the “most egregious criminal aliens,” according to the inspector general, which identifies their offenses as homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and drug dealing.Examples include a Mexican with prior battery and burglary convictions most recently freed after completing a drug-possession sentence and another Mexican who served time for burglary. He too has a lengthy criminal history and had previously been convicted of several felonies but evidently never deported.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials claim “agent staffing challenges” and “increasing workload levels” are to blame for the oversight. The inspector general seems to attribute it to negligence, stating that federal agents failed to properly record and retain critical information and documentation used to determine the status of foreign-born inmates incarcerated in federal and state prisons.Better yet is that ICE management doesn’t have the ability to identify “performance gaps” in the crucial Criminal Alien Program. The agency’s watchdog makes an obvious recommendation to correct the serious gaffe; implement a procedure to ensure that all screenings of jailed foreigners are documented and recorded “according to agency policies and procedures.”