A top House Republican is investigating whistleblower allegations that senior Department of Homeland Security officials are pushing their subordinates not to deport illegal immigrants that are listed as “enforcement priorities” in President Obama’s executive action on immigration.
House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte wrote in a Tuesday letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson that the whistleblower’s statements “demonstrate that your written enforcement priorities are misleading to the American public, since the so-called enforcement priorities are really not priorities at all.”
Recommended Stories
Goodlatte was referring to instructions allegedly given by DHS Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to border patrol agents in August. Brandon Judd, a border patrol union official, told lawmakers that Mayorkas told agents “we have no intention of deporting” many of the immigrants detained by DHS law enforcement.
The Virginia Republican wrote to Mayorkas to confirm that he made the statements, but the letter to Johnson makes clear that Goodlatte is convinced. “I am profoundly troubled by the revelation that your avowed immigration policies announced on November 20, 2014, are being countermanded by leadership within the Department of Homeland Security in separate, unwritten policies, which makes any semblance of immigration enforcement illusory,” Goodlatte wrote.
He also argued that Mayorkas admitted the catch and release policy in 2015, and said it’s “astounding” that he would “acknowledge such a deceptive policy,” and then “stand by silently” as Border agents are criticized for criticizing this “dishonest arrangement.”
It’s not the first letter Goodlatte has written about the “catch-and-release” allegations. Days after Judd testified about Mayorkas’ policies, the whistleblower found himself on the wrong end of misconduct allegations. That prompted Goodlatte to warn DHS not retaliate against his source.
“[P]lease give me your assurance that any allegation of employee misconduct against Mr. Judd or any other DHS employee or contractor will be investigated fairly and impartially by the appropriate DHS component, without any improper influence by any person within DHS,” he wrote to Johnson.
