Ben Johnson, The White House Watch

Before the invention of movable type, newspapers created a tablet for each page they wished to print and broke it at the end of the day. If the media wanted to conserve resources, they could simply fuse the words “The Obama administration lied” to the opening line of each day’s edition and fill in the blank appropriately. This week alone, the press exposed Obama administration lies — in some cases under oath — about its stealth amnesty program for illegal immigrants and about whether airport x-ray scanners were tested for safety. Yet instead of focusing on the cascading batch of left-wing lies and misdirection, the media have trained their targets on Michele Bachmann’s off-the-cuff comments about her hometown and Bristol Palin’s first sexual encounter.

The administration’s lies would come as no surprise to readers of this website. This author exposed both stories nearly a year ago.

Amnesty By Fiat

Susan Carroll of The Houston Chronicle opened her lead story on Monday with the words, “Homeland Security officials misled the public and Congress last year in an effort to downplay a wave of immigration case dismissals in Houston and other cities amid accusations that they had created a ‘back-door amnesty,’ newly released records show.” The Chronicle reported that ICE Director John Morton released a memo last June instructing local immigration officials to dismiss pending cases against “thousands” of illegal immigrants who were set to be deported. Morton insisted ICE agents deport only the worst offenders, leaving all others in the country.

The Chronicle received a series of ICE documents in response to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. (You can read them here.) Carroll wrote, “It was unclear from the documents, some of which were heavily redacted, exactly how the Houston office handled cases involving illegal immigrants with criminal records.”

Nonetheless, the number of case dismissals increased 40 percent during the last fiscal year.

Gary L. Goldman, ICE’s chief lawyer in Houston, eagerly implemented the memo, releasing hundreds of illegals. He rescinded the order only August 25, after Morton’s actions came to light.

Chris Crane, the president of the border agent union the National ICE Council….

Read more.