This is why we execute, kids.

[Epoetker]

Because you can't guarantee that the criminals you lock up will stay locked up.

Shortly before U.S. troops stormed Iraq to oust its dictator, Saddam Hussein released thousands of prisoners from Iraqi jails. Some were petty criminals, some were hardcore, some were terrorists. Hussein unleashed them to build his own popularity and to sow chaos.

Today, Barack H. Obama’s Department of Homeland Security is doing this:

The sequester is officially still three days away, but the Obama administration already is making the first cuts, with officials confirming that the Homeland Security Department has begun to release what it deems low-priority illegal immigrants from detention. [Is there anything to stop an Eric Holder Justice Department from "deeming" other violent criminals as low-priority and releasing them on the excuse of budget cuts?]

The move is proving controversial. Immigrant-rights groups say it shows the administration was detaining folks it never should have gone after in the first place, while Republicans questioned the decision-making.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that runs the detention facilities, said in a statement that the “current fiscal climate” has forced it to do a review of spending, and part of that is taking a look at who is being detained.

“As a result of this review, a number of detained aliens have been released around the country and placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release,” ICE said in a statement.

The cynicism of the move is breathtaking, even for this cynical administration. The “current fiscal climate” is one in which we are spending more than a trillion dollars per year than we take in. The 2009 stimulus spending is locked in. The sequestration threatens just $22 billion this year — and the president gets to choose where to cut. If the sky falls, it’s being brought down on our heads by this unethical rogue president.

So these releases are his choice. And he’s choosing them for pure racial politics and demagoguery. He’ll blame it all on Republicans, while shoring himself up with the amnesty chorus.

More: The president is also threatening to drop our border guard. In a rational age, these acts would be impeachable. Not too many years ago Californians recalled a governor for offering drivers licences to illegal aliens, and here we have a president flagrantly violating his oath to defend the nation.

Death or exile are the only sensible option for criminals and the people who keep them around for political games like these.

Accept no substitutes.

[Ansgar Seraph]

There are certainly days when I hope someone, somewhere, has called up the FBI just to say "You might want to keep an eye on this guy."

I genuinely worry about you, Epo.

—Sam

[Chrs]

I read the title as "This is why we execute kids" and I was going to give my approval.

[One Bad Pig]

Because you can't guarantee that the criminals you lock up will stay locked up.



Death or exile are the only sensible option for criminals and the people who keep them around for political games like these.

Accept no substitutes.

I'm guessing you and Vlad Tepes would get along famously.

[Epoetker]

I'm guessing you and Vlad Tepes would get along famously.

I'd quibble about execution methods, but the hero of our current government seems less Vlad Tepes than Pontious Pilate. If only he had said something like "Hey, guys...we're going through budget cuts here, and frankly this Barrabbas guy is just occupying a perfectly good cell..."

[Epoetker]

I read the title as "This is why we execute kids" and I was going to give my approval.

Wrong thread. Try here for my full exploration of the issue in ancient and modern times.

[Epoetker]

UPDATE: It looks like our harried, innocent female overseer wants to go ahead and release some more criminals to make her job easier and her boss happier:

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano promised to release more illegal immigrants into the United States, saying the budget sequester has left her no choice.

Several hundred detainees have already released because of the sequester, she insisted. They were released on bail, or because their legal status had changed, she said.

“We’re going to continue to do that … for the foreseeable future,” Napolitano said at a March 4 breakfast meeting hosted by Politico. “We are going to manage our way through this by identifying the lowest risk detainees, and putting them into some kind of alternative to release.”

However, Napolitano’s statement clashed with a March 1 report by The Associated Press, which said that internal agency documents show that her managers had already released 2,000 detainees, and planned to release 3,000 more detainees.

Napolitano’s threat reflects the White House’s determination to ramp up public distress until the GOP agrees to another tax increase.

Under the sequester, budgets at the Pentagon and the numerous civilian agencies are being cut by roughly 8 percent from March to September. The cuts will trim roughly 1 percent from federal spending in 2013.

President Barack Obama suggested the sequester plan in 2011, and is now refusing any changes until the GOP agrees to tax increases.

There are roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, of whom roughly 7 million are working, mostly in low-skill jobs. However, roughly 20 million Americans are without jobs, including several million Americans with few job skills.

In the run-up to the 2012 election, Obama offered work permits to more than 750,000 illegals, and rolled back enforcement of immigration law.

Napolitano’s threat to release more illegals was not criticized by Tom Ridge, a former secretary of Homeland Security under George W. Bush, who was also interviewed at the Politico breakfast.

Instead, Ridge complained that the controversy over the illegals’ release threatened passage of the draft immigration rewrite.

Progress towards a legislative success “gets sidelined — well, did you release 2,000? Didn’t you release 2,000? What about this, what about that?” Ridge complained.

The pending rewrite would offer immediate work permits to roughly 11 million illegal immigrants, a path for their relatives to join them in the United States, plus a ramped-up flow of foreign workers into the United States, despite the high unemployment rate.

“The job of the secretary of Homeland Security … with regard to securing the border would be a heck of a lot easier if the U.S. Congress would forget about the partisanship and come up with a broad-based, comprehensive immigration plan,” Ridge complained. [Hey Tom, the job of the average American worker might actually exist if you had done yours!]

“Story ends right there,” said Ridge, who is now a consultant to various business groups, and a board member of the American Action Forum.

The forum is a business-linked advocacy group that is promoting the pending immigration rewrite. It is chaired by Fred Malek, a GOP donor and activist, who owns the Thayer Lodging Group. The group owns several hotels, some in partnership with a Chinese hotel firm. [THIS IS WHAT THE REPUBLICANS HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN VOTING FOR.]

Ridge’s complaint was backed by Napolitano. “Ditto, absolutely,” she said.

And again, kids, this is why righteous and sensible men execute criminal and criminal families and exclude criminal populations-so you don't receive the very-well-deserved curses of what children and countrymen come after you and have to deal with the mess you left behind-and in some cases, in charge.

[Dee Dee Warren]

our harried, innocent female overseer wants to go ahead and release some more criminals to make her job easier

How did I get dragged into this?

[pancreasman]

How did I get dragged into this?

Execution for trolling! I'm all for it.

[Catholicity]

Execution for trolling! I'm all for it.

Can we stone for ass-hattery behavior in general.....

[Crow]

No. We can't afford to deal with the impact crater it would create.

[Debbaux]

Too much dodging and quibbling, not enough executions, kids.

[KingsGambit]

Death... or exile?

[Dee Dee Warren]

I really did think this thread was about executing kids. I was wondering what crack Epo was on today.

[Epoetker]

Death... or exile?

You already exiled me and I came back stronger. Truth has a way of helping those who can actually handle it.