Special interest groups that advocate on behalf of illegal aliens are dictating immigration enforcement in the U.S. and prohibiting federal agents from implementing many of the laws enacted by Congress.

The shocking revelation came this week during congressional testimony from a veteran Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who serves as president of the union that represents ICE officers, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council. Speaking before the House Judiciary Committee, Chris Crane told lawmakers that morale is an all-time low in the agency of about 20,000.

“ICE is now guided in large part by the influences of powerful special interest groups that advocate on behalf of illegal aliens,” Crane said. “These influences have in large part eroded the order, stability and effectiveness of the agency, creating confusion among all ICE employees. For the last four years it has been a roller coaster for ICE officers with regard to who they can or cannot arrest and which federal laws they will be permitted to enforce.”

He offered a number of examples from field offices throughout the nation in which agents were ordered not to arrest illegal immigrants, including those with multiple convictions for traffic related offenses. In fact, the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has directed agents not to apprehend illegal aliens with “insignificant” criminal records. “Important to note, no training or list of insignificant misdemeanor offenses was ever provided to ICE employees,” Crane said.

Agents who fail to comply with the new mandate—issued verbally so that there is no written record—face disciplinary action, Crane told lawmakers. This essentially prohibits ICE officers from making street arrests, restricting them to targets that have been preapproved in writing through a lengthy authorization process.

The new Obama administration policies conflict with the way the government trains ICE officers, Crane points out. “As a result, officers are confused and unsure about the new policies and often find themselves facing disciplinary action for following the law and their academy training instead of the confusing and highly misunderstood and ever changing new policies.”

He also told the congressional panel that open borders groups and the media unfairly demonize the agency simply for doing its job. “ICE employees represent the full spectrum of races and religions that make up our great country,” Crane said, stressing that many at the agency are “themselves the sons and daughters of immigrants or grandsons and granddaughters of immigrants.” However, they believe in law enforcement and the rule of law, he added.

Over the summer Crane and a Border Patrol official participated in a U.S. Senate press conference to reveal that the Obama administration has ordered federal immigration officers to release illegal aliens arrested for violent crimes as long as they claim to be “dreamers” who came to the U.S. as children. Under a controversial plan enacted by the president over the summer, nearly 1 million illegal immigrants under the age of 30 will be spared deportation and have a chance at U.S. citizenship.

Federal immigration officers have been ordered by the Obama Administration to release illegal immigrants arrested for violent crimes as long as they claim to be “dreamers” who came to the U.S. as children and are being allowed to remain in the country under a new policy.

The astounding directive was made public by a pair of officials who work for separate front-line agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Border Patrol. The men, longtime agents, are also union heads who represent thousands of immigration officers around country.

Illegal immigrants are essentially running the show, avoiding detention by exploiting the Obama Administration’s controversial plan to spare nearly 1 million young illegal immigrants (so-called “dreamers”) from deportation. Under the deferred action process, announced just a few weeks ago, “young people brought to the United States through no fault of their own as children” will have a chance at U.S. citizenship.

Federal officers say no proof is required and the amnesty is being granted based solely on individuals’ claims. “What we are seeing so far concerns us greatly,” said Chris Crane, president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council and a veteran ICE agent himself. “”Officers have been told that there is no burden for the alien to prove anything…. At this point we don’t even know why DHS has criteria at all, as there is no requirement or burden to prove anything on the part of the alien.”

As an example Crane offered a recent case in which an illegal alien facing multiple violent criminal charges in El Paso was released under the policy. Without any question and without any investigation, the illegal immigrant was ordered freed, Crane said. Homeland Security officials said “he’s a dreamer, release him,” according to Crane, who assures the new policies are compromising public safety.

The federal agent denounced the new Obama immigration program at a Senate press conference along with longtime Border Patrol agent George McCubbin, who is also president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing more than 17,000 border agents and personnel. McCubbin slammed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for assuring that the border is as secure as it has ever been. She “conveniently forgot to ask the men and women on the front line,” McCubbin said, adding that DHS has made it impossible for agents to do their jobs.

Earlier this month the nation’s largest local Border Patrol Union, located in Tucson Arizona, blasted DHS for ordering federal agents patrolling the Mexican border to “run away” and “hide” when encountering a shooter. The directive could not have come at a worst time because Mexican drug-cartel violence is at an all-time high along the southern border and some portions have been taken over by heavily armed traffickers.

"Federal immigration officers have been ordered by the Obama Administration to release illegal immigrants arrested for violent crimes as long as they claim to be “dreamers” who came to the U.S. as children and are being allowed to remain in the country under a new policy."

Question: If the illegal alien does NOT admit to being a "dreamer" are the ICE agents allowed to apply enhanced interrogation techniques until they DO?
BTW, shall we thank old sarg for his ever-present "horse pucky" contribution to the conversation, or not?