By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Senator Scott Beason (R-Gardendale). and candidate for Alabama’s Sixth District Congressional District, said that the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to indefinitely suspend the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Secure Communities Program to the state of Alabama, “show the political games that this [the Obama] administration plays.”
In exclusive comments to the ‘Alabama Political Reporter,’ Sen. Beason said that the Obama Administration will leave those violent criminals in our communities even the ones that they (ICE-Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agrees need to be deported as “pure political punishment.”
Sen. Beason agreed with Congressman Robert Aderholt’s letter objecting to the Department of Homeland Security’s decision, “I think he [Rep. Aderholt] is right on. I applaud Congressman Aderholt for taking a stand.”
In his letter to Secretary Janet Napolitano, Rep. Aderholt (R-Haleyville) wrote, “The decision to delay deployment in Alabama, a state that enacted its own immigration enforcement law due to concerns about the Federal government’s failure to enforce the law, is incomprehensible and gives additional evidence to those very concerns. According to the explanation provided by DHS to my staff, the decision to delay deployment was not taken for legal, programmatic, or operational reasons. Rather, the decision appears motivated by political considerations related to the Administration’s pursuit of a lawsuit to enjoin all aspects of H.B. 56.”
Sen. Beason said, “This is why we need strong people in Congress.” Beason said that strong people were needed in Congress to address illegal immigration at the federal level.
Beason accused the administration of playing games with the safety of Alabama citizens for political gains and said that H.B. 56 (the Hammon-Beason Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act) is not a negative for him because it shows that he [Sen. Beason] is willing to stand up for the people of Alabama. As a state senator he said that has taken a stand against illegal immigration. Beason also said that his decision to stand up against the corruption in Montgomery is also a positive for his Congressional campaign.
The Department of Homeland Security’s website describes the program as “Secure Communities is a simple and common sense way to carry out ICE’s priorities. It uses an already-existing federal information-sharing partnership between ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that helps to identify criminal aliens without imposing new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement.”
The Department of Homeland Security is not rolling out the program this month in Alabama as planned because President Barack H. Obama’s administration objects to the state enforcing immigration law; a power they claim is exclusively the province of the federal government.
Sen. Beason is running for the United States House of Representative District Six against incumbent Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-Vestavia).
Teaparty activist Al Mickle, Probate Judge David Standridge and Justin Barkley are also running in the March 13 Republican Primary. The winner of the Republican Primary will face either Democrat Col. Penny Bailey or Birmingham Attorney William “Bill” Barnes in the November 6 general election. Terry Reagin of Leeds has announced that he is running as an independent.
Read Rep. Aderholt’s statement
