(AP)—President Barack Obama’s choice to be the No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department is under investigation for his role in helping a company run by a brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, The Associated Press has learned. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
The U.S. Homeland Security Department expects applications for high-skilled immigration visas to outpace the available supply in a matter of days, one of the fastest runs on the much-sought-after work permits in years and a sign of continued economic recovery amid new hiring by U.S. technology companies. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
A senior Homeland Security Department official is telling Congress more than 2,000 illegal immigrants were released from U.S. immigration jails due to budget constraints during three weeks in February.
WASHINGTON — The senior Homeland Security Department official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his resignation the same day the agency said that hundreds of people facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to looming budget cuts, according to a resignation letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The government said he had told his bosses weeks ago that he planned to retire.
Gary Mead, executive associate director over enforcement and removal operations at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, disclosed his departure in an email to his staff Tuesday afternoon. The announcement of the release of the illegal immigrants had come earlier in the day.
President Barack Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney, said Wednesday that the decision to release the immigrants was made without any input from the White House. He described the immigrants as “low-risk, non-criminal detainees.”
The announcement that a few hundred illegal immigrants were being released was among the most significant and direct implications described so far by the Obama administration about the pending, automatic budget cuts that will take effect later this week under what is known as sequestration.
Republicans in Congress quickly criticized the decision and pressed the Homeland Security Department for details.
In an email to his staff obtained by the AP, Mead said he was leaving the agency at the end of April “with mixed emotions.” He did not say what prompted his departure. Mead did not immediately respond to an email and a telephone call.
Read More at OfficialWire . By Alicia A. Caldwell.
