Democrats accuse Rep. Lamar Smith of hypocrisy over deportation legislation

By Gary Martin, Texas on the Potomac (Houston Chronicle blog)
July 15, 2011

House Democrats denounced Thursday an immigration bill to spur deportations as “petty partisan politics” and accused the author, Rep. Lamar Smith, of being a hypocrite for introducing the measure.

Smith, R-San Antonio, filed the “Hinder the Administration’s Legalization Temptation” Act, or HALT, after the Obama administration announced it would prioritize deportations to remove violent criminals and terrorists instead of students and illegal immigrant parents with children born in the United States.
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Read the full article:
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/07/democrats-accuse-rep-lamar-smith-of-hypocrisy-over-deportation-legislation/

[The following press release contains more information on the use of executive discretion in immigration cases. --Blog editor]

Legal Experts Comment on Recent ICE Memo on Prosecutorial Discretion

July 19, 2011 Washington D.C. - In April, a distinguished group of immigration law experts released a memo explaining the executive branch’s authority related to the implementation of immigration laws and policies. This memo provided an explanation of how federal agencies possess the discretion to decide how they prosecute and enforce our nation’s laws. Today, the same legal experts are issuing a new memo discussing the purpose and impact of the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memoranda on prosecutorial discretion in the immigration context. These memoranda provide an important legal viewpoint in the ongoing debate around how much power the executive branch can exercise in the implementation of our nation’s immigration laws.

To view the memoranda in their entirety see:
Recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement Memoranda on Prosecutorial Discretion, July 19, 2011
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/Second%20PD%20Legal%20Memo%20071911.pdf

Executive Branch Authority Regarding Implementation of Immigration Laws and Policies, April 29, 2011
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/Memo_exec_branch_authority.pdf

For more information contact Wendy Sefsaf at wsefsaf@immcouncil.org  or 202-507-7524.