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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Immigration laws are top enforcement cost

From Wire Reports

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration spent more money on immigration enforcement in the latest fiscal year than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined, according to a report on the government’s enforcement efforts from a Washington think tank.

The report on Monday from the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan group focused on global immigration issues, said in the 2012 budget year that ended in September the government spent about $18 billion on immigration enforcement programs run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US-Visit program, and Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol.

Immigration enforcement topped the combined budgets of the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Secret Service by about $3.6 billion dollars, the report’s authors said.

The 182-page report, “Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery,” concludes that the Obama administration has made immigration its highest law enforcement priority.

Church can’t withhold leaders’, priests’ names

LOS ANGELES – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must release the names of church leaders and pedophile priests identified in thousands of pages of internal documents recounting sexual abuse allegations dating back decades, a judge ruled Monday.

The decision by Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias overturned much of a 2011 order by another judge that would have allowed the archdiocese to black out the names of church higher-ups. Victims, as well as the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times, argued for the names to be public.

Elias said she weighed the privacy rights of priests and others – including those who are mentioned in the documents but were not accused of any wrongdoing – versus the public’s interest in learning details of the child abuse that prompted the archdiocese to agree to a record $660 million settlement with victims in 2007.

Both plaintiffs’ and church attorneys said Monday they want the documents released as soon as possible.