Subpoena: Obama Released Enough Illegals to Fill Pittsburgh

by Ben Johnson, The White House Watch

Have any of the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant Barack Obama ordered released gone on to commit other crimes? Congressional Republicans think you deserve to know the answer, Congressional Democrats think finding out violate illegal aliens’ rights, and the president is praying you’ll never find out.

The House Immigration Subcommittee voted to subpoena the names of all illegal immigrants referred to the government but not deported after the administration stonewalled releasing the records. The decision to authorize a subpoena passed on a 7-4 party-line vote.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said, “The American people have a right to know what crimes these 300,000 illegal immigrants committed after ICE intentionally chose not detain them.” Subcommittee chairman Elton Gallegly, R-CA, added he hoped to “uncover how many of these aliens committed additional crimes.” Meanwhile, Democrats on the committee insist subpoenas are unnecessary and do not respect illegals’ rights. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan claimed the administration is “acting in good faith,” and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California worries the subpoenas are an invasion of the illegal immigrants’ privacy.

The subpoena the vote authorizes Congressman Smith to make will demand the names of all illegal immigrants identified by the Secure Communities program but released. On August 22, Smith requested the identities of these released “harmless” illegals. When DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano testified before Congress last week, Smith gave the department until October 31 to produce the names or face a subpoena.

Obama administration officials assumed Smith was bluffing. It assumed wrong.