Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is distancing herself from the release of some detained illegal immigrants ahead of the sequester, saying such decisions are made "in the field" by career bureaucrats.

"Detainee populations and how that is managed back and forth is really handled by career officials in the field," she told ABC News.

Napolitano also expressed regret for how the release was handled ahead of automatic budget cuts.

"Do I wish that this all hadn't been done all of a sudden and so that people weren't surprised by it? Of course," Napolitano told ABC News on Thursday.

Earlier this week, DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement released an unknown number of illegal immigrants -- sparking fierce criticism -- to combat the looming budget cuts caused by sequestration, the automatic $1.2 trillion cuts in federal spending over a decade that began Friday...

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that ICE officials made the decision without input from the White House.

"This was a decision made by career officials at ICE without any input from the White House, as a result of fiscal uncertainty over the continuing resolution, as well as possible sequestration," Carney said Wednesday.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told CBS News earlier this week that he thought the White House was "trying to play games" with the American people with the releases, calling it "outrageous."

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Editor's Note: If, in fact, this is true, then we demand to see the names of the people fired for executing this action. We also demand that Sec. Napolitano resign due to the gross neglagence with which she has performed her job...This game of politics over government needs to come to and end...