Border agents won’t slow hurricane evacuations - BUT no clarification on whether or not illegal immigrants taken to shelters during a hurricane will be allowed to return home or if they will be deported.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff clarified that federal border agents would not impede a hurricane evacuation from south Texas by checking fleeing residents’ documents, diverting from plans confirmed by Border Patrol officials in the state only days earlier.

Speaking at a hurricane preparedness gathering Tuesday at FEMA headquarters in Washington, Chertoff said he wanted to “drive a stake through the heart of a misapprehension which is out there.”

“In the event of an emergency, and the need for an evacuation, priority No. 1 by a country mile is the safe evacuation of people who are leaving the danger zone,” Chertoff said. “Instructions to the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection are clear. They are to do nothing to impede a safe and speedy evacuation of a danger zone.”"*

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