John Morton, the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is resigning.
Morton sent a letter to ICE employees informing them of his departure. Morton will leave at the end of July for a job at a private company. That company has not yet been identified.
In March, Morton testified to the House Judiciary Committee about his agency releasing 2,228 immigrants ahead of sequestration:
Morton said ICE has funding to maintain 34,000 detention beds to hold immigrants awaiting deportation proceedings. He said because ICE had detained more than 34,000 immigrants late in 2012, to stay within budget, his agency had to reduce detention levels in February. Furthermore, the agency is subject to $300 million in automatic cuts due to sequestration.
Among those released were 32 felons.
In the fiscal year 2012, the United Statesdeported a record 409,849immigrants.
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