As for the federal government's priority of only enforcing the law against "previously deported" aliens, Chamberlain wonders -- at a time when millions of illegal aliens are living, working, studying, voting and lobbying for their "rights" -- how anybody ever gets deported anymore. Chamberlain is furious and decided to go public with the incident, despite a politically correct code of silence among police chiefs about open-borders chaos. "We're asked by our government every day to increase our awareness and try to apprehend" law-breakers, Chamberlain mused, "and then they tell me to kick 'em loose? It's frustrating."
Chief Chamberlain is not alone. As I've reported consistently since the Sept. 11 attacks, immigration enforcement remains a joke. "Catch-and-release" games are par for the course:
In Wenatchee, Wash., last month, a man now charged with the murder of local deputy Saul Gallegos in Chelan was "voluntarily removed" (allowed to leave the country on his own accord) three times in recent years but he always came back. In Del Rio, Texas, 17 illegal aliens from Brazil were arrested by a local sheriff and released by federal authorities. The sheriff's complaints to Rep. Henry Bonilla resulted in immigration enforcement interviews that would otherwise not have happened. Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan fumed to the local press:
"Are they criminals? Are they terrorists? We don't know who they are. . . . The agency officials at this level here locally, I truly believe, are just as much against these releases as I am. They feel betrayed. They're thinking, 'We work hard to apprehend these people and then the next day someone at the Washington level orders their release. Why are we apprehending them in the first place?'
"It's ridiculous. A war on terrorism? Homeland security? Hah!" Jernigan said.
Indeed. Perhaps it is time for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to simply drop the word "Enforcement" from its title. Spare us the charade.