While the Obama administration has been issuing dire warnings about the effects of the impending sequestration deal, Republicans have been more sanguine, apparently happy to reduce the deficit and try to blame the president for the pain the cuts will cause.<\/p>\n
But of all the hundreds of government programs on the chopping block, one rose above the others to demand unique outrage from GOP leaders, as the Hill reports:<\/p>\n
Republicans are condemning the Obama administration\u2019s decision to release several hundred illegal immigrants from detention facilities because of possible funding cuts from the sequester.<\/p>\n
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blasted the move and said he would be looking for more information. \u201cThis is very hard for me to believe that they can\u2019t find cuts elsewhere in their agency,\u201d he said in an interview set to air Tuesday night on CBS. \u201cI frankly think this is outrageous. And I\u2019m looking for more facts, but I can\u2019t believe that they can\u2019t find the kind of savings they need out of that department short of letting criminals go free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the releases \u201cabhorrent\u201d and a threat to public safety. While Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions said the move is \u201ca convenient excuse to bow to political pressure from the amnesty groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of those released were being held for nonviolent offenses related to immigration violation \u2014 not hardened criminals who happened to be picked up for immigration issues \u2014 and they will all remain in removal proceedings under \u201csupervised release\u201d (meaning they\u2019ll be given ankle bracelets or have other means of being kept tabs on).<\/p>\n
Just to put this in some perspective, Republican lawmakers have hurled nowhere near this kind of rhetoric for the other painful things sequestration will do.<\/p>\n
No Republican has called it \u201cabhorrent\u201d that, for example, 4 million meals won\u2019t be delivered to seniors through Meals on Wheels; that few food inspectors will make the food system less safe; that cuts to research programs could set back scientific research for a generation; that tens of thousands of kids will be kicked out of Head Start programs; that tens of thousands of homeless people will be kicked out of shelters; that almost 400,000 seriously mentally ill people will lose services; or that 600,000 women and children will be dropped from WIC.<\/p>\n