"This was a decision made by career officials at ICE without any input from the White House, as a result of fiscal uncertainty over the continuing resolution, as well as possible sequestration," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.
Personnel at Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington were also unaware of the decision until the announcement was made, a department official told POLITICO.
ICE announced Tuesday that it has released several hundred undocumented immigrants in recent weeks as funding cuts loom. The detainees will instead be monitored in less expensive ways, the agency said.
About this, and returning to the theme of competent executive management: If all you're trying to do is avoid political culpability for an unpopular move, then I guess you say my underlings did it and I knew nothing about it. But what would a strong leader do? He would look at the situation and recognize that the imperative is to find the least damaging $85 billion to cut. He would direct those who report to him to offer recommendations, and then he would make the final decision.
What a strong leader would absolutely not do is decline to even engage the process, then throw up his hands when underlings make the decisions on their own and say,
hey, don't blame me if government careerists are making decisions that threaten national security! It had nothing to do with me!
Even if you believe that Obama had nothing to do with it, the question is: Why didn't he have anything to do with it? He's the one the American people elected to make these decisions. Either he's making really bad ones, or he's not doing his job.
