More Than 40 Lawmakers Urge Sec. Napolitano to Stop Releasing Detained Illegal Aliens

More than 40 lawmakers sent a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano urging her to stop releasing detained illegal aliens because of budget cuts caused by the sequester. The group of lawmakers said that releasing the illegal aliens “under the guise of saving money is extraordinary, unprecedented and dangerous.”

The lawmakers also demanded that Sec. Napolitano answer questions, including:

The total number of detainees released and the location of the releases;
Plans for future releases and those locations;
The name of the DHS official who authorized the mass releases;
The criteria used to determine eligibility for release;
The number of release denials and the reasons for the denials;
A list of other budget cuts being made by DHS;
The budget savings of releasing the detainees; and
How DHS is tracking the released illegal aliens.

The letter’s signees were Reps. Matt Salmon of Arizona, Duncan Hunter of California, John Kline of Minnesota, Ed Royce of California, Randy Forbes of Virginia, John Mica of Florida, Ted Poe of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, David Schweikert of Arizona, John Campbell of California, John Culberson of Texas, Trent Franks of Arizona, Rob Bishop of Utah, Phil Roe of Tennessee, Doug LaMalfa of California, Steve Stockman of Texas, Michael Grimm of New York, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Sam Graves of Missouri, Ken Calvert of California, Mike Pompeo pf Kansas, Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, Bill Posey of Florida, Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, Alan Nunnelee of Mississippi, Steve Daines of Montana, Michael Burgess of Texas, Tom McClintock of California, Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, Dana Rohrabacher of California, Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, Bill Young of Florida, Randy Hultgren of Illinois, Michael Conaway of Texas, Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma, John Duncan of Tennessee, and Doug Lamborn of Colorado.

To read the full letter, click here.