CNSNews.com - Republicans Say Obama Administration Is Limiting Arrests of Illegal Aliens

CNSNews.com - Republicans Say Obama Administration Is Limiting Arrests of Illegal Aliens: "(CNSNews.com) – Fifty-four members of Congress, mostly Republicans, have signed a letter to President Barack Obama praising the 287(g) program that allows specially trained state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law.

The Oct. 26 letter comes shortly after the Obama administration imposed new limits on state and local law enforcers, preventing them from arresting many of the illegal immigrants with whom they come into contact.

Instead of allowing local police to arrest people simply for being in the United States illegally, the Obama administration has now established categories of illegal aliens who are a “priority for arrest and detention.”

Those priorities include aliens convicted of or arrested for major crimes, including drug offenses and murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and kidnapping; aliens convicted of or arrested for minor drug offenses and property crimes such as burglary, larceny, fraud, and money laundering; and aliens who have been convicted of or arrested for “other offenses.”

Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, said contrary to claims that it was supposed to focus only on serious crimes, the 287(g) program was intended to allow states and local law enforcement officials to enforce all immigration laws – “not just a select few.”"