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“COMMENDING EDWARD J. McELROY OF THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E846 on May 1, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
COMMENDING EDWARD J. McELROY OF THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS
ENFORCEMENT
______
HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, May 1, 2003
Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to call to the attention of the House Mr. Edward J. McElroy, an extraordinary federal employee--a person who would typically be referred to in this chamber as a bureaucrat. Indeed, he is one, the interim director of the Department of Justice's new Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York. But in my community in New York, we don't think of him as a bureaucrat, or as a cog in the impersonal and vast machinery of the federal government. In Queens, Ed McElroy is a hero.
About 3 weeks ago I called him after discovering that a young man in my community, Mohammad Sarfaraz Hussain, was on the verge of being deported. Now eighteen, this young man came to New York from Pakistan when he was a seven year old little boy, to be with his mother as she died in the hospital. Only a few short years later, his father died of a heart attack leaving him an orphan.
Despite these tragedies, Mohammad thrived in Queens. Living with his aunt and uncle, and with the support of his siblings and cousins, his school and his friends, Mohammad has grown to be the kind of young man all of us hope our society produces: decent, modest and responsible, a varsity basketball player with a crowd of friends and a bright future ahead of him.
But in February, after reporting to immigration officials in New York under the special registration program implemented after 9/11 to screen male aliens from high-risk states, Mohammad was told that he was in our country illegally and that our federal government would seek his deportation. He was supposed to appear before a federal judge today.
A terrible tragedy was unfolding, a young man, an orphan, who since he was in second grade had only known life in America, was only weeks away from being sent to Pakistan, where he had no family and knew no one.
Mr. Speaker, this scenario is not what we had in mind when the special screening procedures were put in place. The new screening policy makes a lot of sense for the security of our nation, it made no sense when applied in this case. The most threatening thing about Mohammad Hussain is his jump shot.
But the story has a happy ending Mr. Speaker because in New York, the federal government is lucky enough to have Ed McElroy making decisions about the enforcement of immigration laws.
Instead of ducking his head, instead of hiding behind rules and regulations to avoid making a decision, Ed McElroy did the kind of job we all hope our federal employees will do. He investigated, he looked deeper, he performed due diligence, he protected the interests of the United States and most importantly, he did the right thing.
After taking all the steps necessary to ensure that America's interests were met first, Ed McElroy notified me that he had reviewed Mr. Hussain's case would exercise prosecutorial discretion in not removing him from the United States.
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot to be proud of in a case like this. There is, of course, Mohammad Hussain, a young man like millions of others who has come to this country in tragic circumstances and has come to know, love and live the American dream.
And, making the continuation of this American story possible is a federal employee, a bureaucrat. A hero named Ed McElroy who understands that his responsibility as a guardian of our nation's borders and laws is not just the implementation of regulations, but the use of judgement in the pursuit of justice.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call the House's attention to the great job Ed McElroy has done, and I know the whole House will join me in thanking him for his service, which is a credit to the entire United States government.
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