Letter: Immigration Enforcement

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Your July 14 editorial "Secretary Napolitano Resigns" incompletely and unfairly assessed the secretary of homeland security's immigration enforcement record. Secretary Janet Napolitano has worked with Congress to develop and implement a more rational and humane immigration enforcement policy, prioritizing the deportation of criminals.

The "deportation dragnet" that The Times condemns most closely resembles the deservedly maligned "287(g)" program. Under the secretary's direction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement opted to wind down 287(g) task forces.

In parallel, the secretary worked with Congress to develop the dramatically different Secure Communities program, which, unlike 287(g), clearly distinguishes federal from state and local roles, leaving detention and deportation decisions with federal authorities and giving priority to the removal of convicted criminals.

This recalibration is working. In 2012, 54 percent of deported individuals were convicted criminals, compared with 35 percent in 2007. In 2012, repeat immigration offenders and individuals apprehended at the border accounted for another 38 percent of deportees. Prosecutorial discretion has also been institutionalized, de-emphasizing low-risk populations and granting "deferred" status to young people eligible under the Dream Act.

Carefully targeting immigration enforcement remains a challenge, but contrary to your editorial, Secretary Napolitano and the director of ICE, John Morton, have been central to noteworthy progress.

DAVID E. PRICE
Washington, July 16, 2013

The writer, a Democrat from North Carolina, is the ranking member and former chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

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