More on US Attorney Firings and Immigration

During a congressional showdown over undocumented immigration last spring, Justice Department officials found themselves scrambling to answer Republicans’ pointed questions about low immigration-related prosecution rates by U.S. attorneys on the southwest border. Republicans, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., had honed in on Southern California’s U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, demanding to know why they were hearing she had refused to prosecute undocumented immigrants unless they had previously been convicted of two felonies.

Internal e-mails released as a part of a congressional investigation show Justice Department officials conceded among themselves that they had “some concerns about asserting that the SO Cal U.S. attorney’s office has a strong record in this area.”

The e-mail exchange – between Associate Deputy Attorney General Lee Otis and other Justice officials in April 2006 – is one of several contained in more than 3,000 pages of documents released over the past week. The newest batch, released Wednesday, includes further references to intense criticism from Republican lawmakers about the priorities of several border-state U.S. attorneys. Click here.

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