Feds Released
Hundreds Of Immigrant Murderers, Drunk Drivers, Sex-Crimes Convicts
Immigration
officials knowingly released dozens of murderers and thousands of drunken
drivers back into the U.S. in 2013, according to Obama
administration statistics that could undercut the president’s argument that he
is trying to focus on the most serious criminals in his immigration
enforcement.
Among the
36,000 immigrants whom U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released from
custody last year there were 116 with convictions for homicide, 43 for
negligent manslaughter, 14 for voluntary manslaughter and one with a conviction
classified by ICE as “homicide-willful kill-public official-gun.”
The
immigrants were in deportation proceedings, meaning ICE was trying to remove
them from the country and could have held them in detention but released them
anyway, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, which published the
numbers Monday. The Washington Times also obtained the data.
“This
would be considered the worst prison break in American history, except it was
sanctioned by the president and perpetrated by our own immigration officials,”
said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican. “The administration’s actions are
outrageous. They willfully and knowingly put the interests of criminal
immigrants before the safety and security of the American people.”
The data
raised thorny questions about how the government decides which immigrants to
detain and which it will release as they await court hearings and final action
on deportation.
Jessica
Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said
the numbers undercut the Obama administration’s argument that it is trying to
keep its enforcement efforts targeted at dangerous criminals.
“We keep
hearing from the administration that they are focused like a laser on
enforcement against the worst of the worst, convicted criminals, as their top
priority. On the other hand, they are releasing, at a rate of about 100 a day,
aliens from their custody with criminal convictions, and many of them are
serious criminal convictions,” she said.
In a
statement, ICE said many of those it released were subject to electronic
monitoring, posting bond or having to check in with officers.
In other
cases, the agency was required to release immigrants because of court
decisions, including a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that found immigrants whose
home countries refused to take them back could not be held for more than six
months.
ICE said
75 percent of the convicted murderers released in 2013 were considered
“mandatory releases” in compliance with court decisions.
“Others,
typically those with less serious offenses, were released as a discretionary
matter after career law enforcement officers made a judgment regarding the
priority of holding the individual, given ICE’s resources, and prioritizing the
detention and removal of individuals who pose a risk to public safety or
national security,” ICE said.
Rep. Bob
Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson will have to answer questions.
Mr.
Goodlatte and Mr. Smith asked ICE for the release numbers but said the agency
never turned them over.
“These
criminals should be locked up, not roaming our streets,” the lawmakers said.
ICE has
told Congress it doesn’t need to hold as many immigrants in detention. In its
budget request this year, ICE asked that Congress fund slightly more than
30,500 detention beds a day, down from the 34,000 set in current law.
“This
funding level of beds will allow ICE to detain the current mandatory
population, as well as the higher-risk, non-mandatory detainees,” ICE Deputy
Director Daniel Ragsdale testified in March.
Ms.
Vaughan said that rings hollow if the administration is releasing murderers and
other serious criminals even with 34,000 detention beds.
The 36,007
criminal aliens counted in the data had more than 87,000 convictions among
them: 15,635 for drunken driving, 9,187 for what ICE labeled “dangerous drugs,”
2,691 for assault, 1,724 for weapons offenses and 303 for “flight escape” — a
category that would seem to make them bad candidates for release.
The
immigrants are in addition to the 68,000 other immigrants that ICE officers
came across but didn’t put into deportation proceedings.
ICE came
under fire last year for releasing thousands of immigrants and blaming it on
the sequester budget cuts. Among those released were 622 criminals, including
24 with repeated felony convictions so bad that the administration had to go
recapture them.
Officials
later said it wasn’t the sequester, but rather the regular budget process that
caused them to have to release the immigrants. They said they had been running
above the 34,000 detention level for too long and would have had to cut
detention to average out the numbers.
Article reprinted from The
Washington Times by Stephen Dinan
Ben Ferro
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