The New York Times is reporting that the recent raid by ICE Agents in Bellingham, Washington was undertaken without pre-clearance by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. The Times article, quoting a high ranking official, informs us,
“[Napolitano] was not happy about it because it’s inconsistent with her position, and the president’s position on these matters,” said the official, who agreed to discuss the matter on condition of anonymity because the secretary had not authorized the conversation.
In a related AP Article, Napolitano was quizzed by lawmakers in DC about the raid. As reported by the AP,
"I want to get to the bottom of this as well," she said. She said work-site enforcement needs to be focused on the employers.
The same article reports that the raid comes on the heels of recent signals by the Obama Administration indicating a shift in immigration policy that would rely less on work-site enforcement, focusing instead on employers who hire illegal immigrants and overall immigration reform.
Perhaps the raid was can be simply explained as a failure to communicate between local ICE officials and the bureaucrats in DC. Or perhaps it was a not so subtle hint that ICE Detention and Removal has an agenda of its own, one that may not coincide with Secretary Napolitano's. ICE might be concerned that Obama and Napolitano's musings on reviewing raid policy threaten to put the brakes on a rapidly growing law enforcement empire.
ICE Raids are extremely popular to significant and vocal local and national voting constituencies. By baiting Napolitano to take a position on a specific raid, ICE is daring her to crack back, and now she's on the political hook, either to support the raid or stand against it. The question is, will her stand against ICE rally the restrictionist crowd and sway the middle to push lawmakers to 1) put an end to talk of curtailing ICE raids and 2) defend DRO's operations and budget against a Obama-Napolitano regime that's vulernable on law enforcement issues and border security.
What can't be denied is that ICE has succeeded in making Napolitano look feckless in her first weeks as DHS Secretary.
