The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged homeland security

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill to Be Introduced Dec. 15

By | 12.11.09 | 11:49 am

Though there’s been lots of talk so far about comprehensive immigration reform from advocates, a handful of lawmakers, and even President Obama when he addresses Latino groups, no one has yet introduced a bill in Congress.

That’s expected to change on Tuesday, Dec. 15, when Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is More…

DHS Oversight Hearing Likely to Be Contentious

By | 12.09.09 | 9:05 am

In advance of a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the Department of Homeland Security Wednesday morning, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has released a statement announcing his disapproval with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s immigration policies and enforcement. “As many as twenty million individuals live here illegally, enjoying many More…

Lieberman’s Investigation Into the Fort Hood ‘Terrorist’ Attack

By | 11.20.09 | 10:30 am

Jesselyn Radack at Daily Kos has a nice roundup of yesterday’s Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, called and led by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who opened the morning session with an announcement that the shootings of 13 soldiers on the U.S. Army base was a “terrorist” attack as More…

ICE Sweep Yields More ‘Incidentals’ Than Criminals

By | 11.05.09 | 4:05 pm

A four-day sweep conducted last November in Arizona by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents looking for immigrant fugitives and criminals resulted primarily in the arrests of immigrants who were neither criminals nor fugitives, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has found.

The operation was supposed to be More…

Graham Amendment Would Bar Trials of Terror Suspects in Federal Court

By | 11.05.09 | 2:49 pm

When I wrote my earlier post about the group of illustrious Americans urging the Obama administration to close Guantanamo and bring suspected terrorists to justice in U.S. federal courts, I neglected to mention that Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), joined by Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jim More…

Phil Mudd Resurfaces, After Senate Dissed Him

By | 10.19.09 | 5:46 pm

You thought Phil Mudd was done? Months ago, Mudd, the chief of the FBI’s national security branch and a respected longtime CIA official, was forced to withdraw his name as Janet Napolitano’s nominee for intelligence chief of the Department of Homeland Security. Mudd bowed out in June after some More…

Louise Slaughter Slams Effort to Amend FOIA to Shield Abuse Photos

By | 10.15.09 | 12:32 pm

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) today blasted the Obama administration, as well as some of her colleagues in the House and Senate, for including a provision in the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that would amend the Freedom of Information Act to exempt from disclosure photos depicting the abuse of detainees in More…

Congress Helps DoD Hide Torture Photos

By | 10.08.09 | 8:40 am

House and Senate members today approved language for a homeland security appropriations bill that would give the Pentagon the right to continue withholding photos of the abuse of detainees in its custody, the ACLU reported on Wednesday.

The ACLU has been trying to get its hands on More…

DHS Wants Your Input (Sort of)

By | 09.08.09 | 12:40 pm

It sounded like a good idea. In this interactive age, the Department of Homeland Security wanted to take advantage of an easy way to get public feedback on its policies by implementing a Web-based system where users can share their opinions and ideas with the agency. The 2009 Quadrennial More…

Immigrants’ Advocates Not Letting Up on Obama

By | 08.27.09 | 12:41 pm

The federal immigration program that allows local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws is becoming a thorn in the side of the Obama administration.

It’s part of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s tough-on-illegal immigrants strategy, and it wins President Obama points from conservatives who fear More…