WASHINGTON (AP):

The Associated Press has learned that the Homeland Security Department official in charge of the agency's immigration enforcement-and-removal operations has resigned after hundreds of illegal immigrants were released from jails because of government spending cuts.

In an email obtained yesterday by the AP, Gary Mead told coworkers that he was leaving US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the end of April. Mead is the head of enforcement and removal operations at ICE.

Mead had told co-workers of his resignation in the email sent Tuesday, hours after US officials had confirmed that a few hundred illegal immigrants facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to budget cuts.

President Barack Obama's spokesman said yesterday the White House was never consulted but described the immigrants as "low-risk, non-criminal detainees".