(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released 76 pages of Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) documents revealing that as of April 26, 2014, Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had released 165,900 convicted criminal aliens
throughout the United States, including many convicted of such violent crimes
as homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. (Reports recently detailed that ICE
released another 30,000 in the most recent fiscal year, which brings the grand
total of known criminals released by the Obama administration to 195,900.)
The documents
were released through a July 21, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:14-cv-01237)) filed by Judicial Watch
after DHS failed to respond to a May 15 FOIA request seeking:
Any and all
records of communications including, but not limited to, emails and memoranda,
to or from personnel in the office of the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (including its component offices, such
as the Office of Public Affairs), from May 1 to May 15, 2014, concerning,
regarding, or related to the report published by the Center for Immigrations
Studies concerning the release of 36,000 criminal aliens.
The ICE
documents confirm a May 2014 Center Immigration Studies (CIS) report showing
that in 2013 ICE freed 36,007 convicted criminal aliens, who had nearly 88,000
convictions, including 193 homicide convictions, 426 sexual assault
convictions, and 303 kidnapping convictions.
As has been
previously reported, and is evidenced in these documents, the 36,007 criminal
aliens freed by ICE in 2013 were just the tip of the iceberg. In a DHS “Overview
of ICE” document marked “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY,” the following figures are reported
through April 26, 2014 [NOTE: “Final Order” indicates the illegal aliens were
ordered to leave the country, but have not done so and remain free]:
Non-Detained
Final Order Convicted: Criminal 165,950 Non-Detained Final Order Non-Criminal
706,950, Non-Detained Final Order Total 872,900
The documents
also detail the difficulty caused by local policies that interfere with federal
enforcement of immigration law and provide “sanctuary” for illegal alien
criminals.
An email dated May 2, 2014, highlights how such a policy in
Montgomery County, Maryland, prevented immigration officials from gaining
access to an illegal alien “in state custody on rape charges”:
ERO
[Enforcement and Removal Operations] officers were also denied access to
interview the alien at police station last Friday due to Montgomery County
prohibitions against immigration enforcement.
The documents
also include a May 14, 2014, email from House Homeland Security
Subcommittee Counsel Valerie Baldwin to ICE Executive Associate Director Thomas
Holman expressing the subcommittee’s frustration over ICE stonewalling of
information concerning the criminal alien release policies:
Gentlemen, At
the ICE hearing and throughout the data call on ICE’s budget request, we’ve
requested data on the make-up of the non-detained ATD [Alternatives to
Detention] docket, specifically as it relates to violent crimes. I’m
wondering why the Washington Times and Washington Post have more information on
the ATD population than the Chairman and the other members of the
subcommittee. Please respond with an answer today.
Immediately
following the release of the CIS report, former Chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), issued a statement terming the
action, “the worst prison break in
American history.”
Also included
in the documents is a reference in the May 12, 2014, ICE Public Affairs Office “Daily
Close of Business Report” describing a request from the Al Jazeera
Network to film the disease quarantine room at Miami International
Airport. According to the ICE “Business Report:”
General – Miami: Request to Film at Miami International Airport, Al
Jazeera Network
Bureau manager
called, requested to film the quarantine room for any passenger suspected of
being ill with any significant diseases. PAO [Public Affairs Officer] referred
the call to CBP [Customs and Border Patrol].
The Al
Jazeera Network request coincided with the first reports of the Ebola virus
spreading throughout West Africa. On October 9, 2014 in a story entitled
“Experts: ISIS Could Use Ebola In Bio-Terror Attack Against US,” CBS
Network affiliate WNEW reported, “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
terrorists may use ‘carriers’ to spread the Ebola virus as part of a low-tech
biological terror tactic, according to national security and health experts.”
“It’s appalling
that we’ve had to sue in federal court to get key information about the Obama
administration’s release of 165,950 convicted criminal aliens,” said Judicial
Watch President Tom Fitton. “These documents show the Obama administration is
lying when it says that its ‘enforcement priorities’ include deporting illegal
aliens who have committed heinous crimes. And lawless localities that help
protect illegal alien rapists and other criminals show that politicians at all
levels put politics above the rule of law and the public safety. Where do
the innocent victims of the illegal alien criminals this president’s appointees
have set free go for justice?”
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-documents-show-homeland-security-released-165900-convicted-criminal-aliens-throughout-u-s-as-of-april-26-2014/
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