Catholics complain to feds about immigration raids

By Stewart M. Powell - Houston Chronicle
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - Web Link
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July 29, 2008

The official leading the Bush administration's election-year crackdown on undocumented immigrants got an earful Tuesday from immigrant advocates tied to the Roman Catholic Church who dubbed the effort "enforcement only."

Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of homeland security in charge of immigration and customs enforcement, defended a nine-month campaign that has detained about 4,500 undocumented workers, 111 employers and more than 26,000 illegal immigrants who defied judges' orders to leave the country.

"I certainly understand that there are many people who do not like the immigration laws created by Congress— not created by this agency but created by Congress," Myers declared. Myers responded to complaints that some mothers had been separated from nursing babies in violation of the policy of her agency— Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Congress, she said, did not make an exception for undocumented workers who became parents while living in the U.S. illegally.

"Congress could do that— but they have not," she said.

Many participants at a three-day conference convened by the Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network criticized the administration's hard-hitting approach.

The stepped-up enforcement policy was adopted after Congress failed last year to enact a blend of border enforcement and a pathway to legalization for some 12 million illegal immigrants.

The Bush administration contends it must strengthen enforcement to win back public confidence and set the stage for a more balanced approach.