greta: is the truth, is the department of homeland security planning backdoor amnesty for some illegal immigrants or is the republicans rattling the white house? john morton director of immigration customs enforcement, joins us live. i want to acknowledge that i do know last year there was an increase of 42% number of people in deportation procedures. your numbers are up in terms of how many people who are illegal who you are removing, right? all time records. greta: what is with this member that the senate has? is this legitimate coming out of your department rather dhs? there s no plan for a backdoor amnesty. greta: is in your memo? in is not my memo. there s draft memos that never reflected official policy.
greta: is the truth, is the department of homeland security planning backdoor amnesty for some illegal immigrants or is the republicans rattling the white house? john morton director of immigration customs enforcement, joins us live. i want to acknowledge that i do know last year there was an increase of 42% number of people in deportation procedures. your numbers are up in terms of how many people who are illegal who you are removing, right? all time records. greta: what is with this member that the senate has? is this legitimate coming out of your department rather dhs? there s no plan for a backdoor amnesty. greta: is in your memo? in is not my memo. there s draft memos that never reflected official policy.
jon: top senate republicans taking homeland security secretary janet napal tano to task natal tano to task, whether amnesty creates a back door policy for others. molly henneberg is check thank out. reporter: some sen to, seven republicans on the senate judiciary committee that oversee immigration law they say the department of homeland security is trying to skirt immigration law and they point to three draft memos from groups under the department of homeland security leaked in recent months. for example, one by ice, the immigration and customs enforcement agency, included a section suggesting its officers should not take into custody an illegal immigrant charged with a traffic violation if that person is not a threat to public safety. the senators wrote in the letter, quote, whether or not the proposals in these memos have officially been
political before it s being principled, i think that can backfire. it can have the short-term and long-term consequences. and, you know, whether that was the case in this instance is unclear at this point. but it certainly doesn t smell right. bret: what about the obama administration action in filing suit against arizona? well, yeah. i mean, that certainly gives republicans, you know, this is a place where republicans can make a principled argument and say look, this is what the federal government should be doing. we ve called for enforcement for years. it s been rejected. the administration is not engaging it on us. whether it s in draft memos, there rendcations they are not going to enforce the law. it s paid off, charles, in arizona for governor jan brewer whose popularity is skyrocketed there. you are saying it s not sure if it pays off in the general election. look, in arizona, it was so important that john mccain
appearances of being political before it s being principled, i think that can backfire. it can have the short-term and long-term consequences. and, you know, whether that was the case in this instance is unclear at this point. but it certainly doesn t smell right. bret: what about the obama administration action in filing suit against arizona? well, yeah. i mean, that certainly gives republicans, you know, this is a place where republicans can make a principled argument and say look, this is what the federal government should be doing. we ve called for enforcement for years. it s been rejected. the administration is not engaging it on us. whether it s in draft memos, there rendcations they are not going to enforce the law. it s paid off, charles, in arizona for governor jan brewer whose popularity is skyrocketed there. you are saying it s not sure if it pays off in the general election. look, in arizona, it was so important that john mccain