Friday, March 1, 2013

Dammit, Janice: Brewer Suggests White House Released Immigrants As 'Payback'

Posted By on Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 5:45 PM

In an interview with Fox News, Governor Brewer has apparently decided that, as an act of revenge for Arizona's attempt at enforcing immigration laws, President Obama and the White House have decided to release dangerous immigrants—in keeping with sequester-related budget cuts.

Conspiracies!

From Talking Points Memo:

Brewer suggested on Fox News Friday that the move, which officials from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency say was a matter of simple budget math, was retaliation for the state’s law cracking down on undocumented immigrants, which has been a major flashpoint in the national immigration debate.

“Well, you know, I personally believe it could be payback,” Brewer said. “It could be to punish Arizona, to make them squirm. They’re pushing back on what we’re pushing on because we want our border secure and we’re strong about it.”

Asked whether Washington was “picking on you,” she replied: “I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re doing everything in their power.”

Both the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano have denied any involvement in the decision to release the detainees, which they say was made by ICE independently in response to the sequester. Napolitano explicitly warned on Thursday, however, that the 5 percent cut to DHS’s budget that went into effect Friday will have an unavoidable impact on immigration enforcement, including the department’s ability to maintain its usual 34,000 detainee capacity.

So just a day after we told you could take your conspiracy caps off, Governor Jan has tied hers on tight. Sounds about right to me.

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