Ted Poe: “many Americans have joined Congress in the illegal immigration debate over the past several months. Important questions…”

“many Americans have joined Congress in the illegal immigration debate over the past several months. Important questions on guest worker programs, detention space, and the so-called catch and release programs have been discussed numerous times. However, one overlooked aspect of illegal immigration is the delay or the refusal of foreign countries that we give aid to to accept the ordered deportation of citizens from the United States. Many of these ordered deported have been convicted of felonies, gone to prison and U.S. penitentiaries, and illegally entered the United States initially. A report issued in April of 2006 by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General states, that ICE's Office of Detention and Removal is being forced to devote a significant percentage of its funded detention beds, 14 percent, to illegals whose countries are either slow or unwilling to take those people back after they have been ordered deported. The report also states that thousands of these individuals end up then being released in America as our government continues to get stonewalled by so-called friends, but turn out to be uncooperative foreign nations. The cost incurred in fiscal year 2003 by the U.S. due to the delay or refusal of the top eight nations, including India, was $83 million to American taxpayers. In June of 2004, America had 136,241 illegals from those top eight nations with orders to be departed, but those governments refused to take those individuals.…”