(Washington
Times) – Most of the illegal immigrant criminals Homeland Security officials
released from custody last year were discretionary, meaning the department
could have kept them in detention but chose instead to let them onto the
streets as their deportation cases moved through the system, according to new
numbers from Congress. Some of those released were the worst of the worst —
more than 3,700 “Threat Level 1″ criminals, who are deemed the top priority for
deportation, were still released out into the community even as they waited for
their immigration cases to be heard.
Homeland Security officials have implied
their hands are tied by court rulings in many cases, but the numbers, obtained
by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, showed 57 percent of the
criminals released were by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s own
choice, and they could have been kept instead.
“Put aside the spin, and the fact is that
over 17,000 of the criminal aliens released last year were released due to ICE
discretion, representing 57 percent of the releases,” said Mr. Goodlatte. “The
Obama administration’s lax enforcement policies are reckless and needlessly
endanger our communities.”
In a statement to The Washington Times, ICE
said it takes release decisions seriously and makes a judgment in each case.
That holds true even for Threat Level 1 criminals. “Not all Level 1 criminal
aliens are subject to mandatory detention and thus may be eligible for bond,”
the agency said, pointing to mitigating circumstances that can convince agents
to release the most serious criminals. “ICE personnel making custody
determinations also take into consideration humanitarian factors such as
deteriorated health, advanced age, and caretaking responsibilities.
All custody determinations are made on a
case-by-case basis taking into consideration the totality of circumstances in
each case,” the agency said. ICE officials insist that those who are released
are still monitored, often by electronic ankle bracelets but also through a
system of phone checks or by paying a bond. However, nearly all of those
released under electronic monitoring broke the terms of their release,
according to ICE numbers.
In fiscal year 2014, ICE put about 41,000
immigrants through electronic monitoring, and more than 30,000 of them broke
the terms of their release — many of them racking up multiple violations. All
told, they notched nearly 300,000 violations in one year alone, or an average
of 10 instances per violator.
The rate has gone down slightly so far in
fiscal year 2015. Of the 34,002 immigrants put into electronic monitoring,
27,317 have broken the rules a combined 162,322 times. ICE said violations can
include what they deem minor problems, such as someone lacking a strong enough
cell signal for voice verification by phone or someone calling in too early or
a few minutes late. Low batteries or jostling an electronic bracelet during
sports can also cause a monitoring alarm to go off incorrectly,
ICE said. Of the more than 30,000 detainees
who broke the conditional terms of their release and monitoring in 2014, only
2,420 were deemed to have been serious enough breaches to re-arrest them.
Part of ICE’s problem is that it doesn’t have
enough beds to go out and pick up violators, according to an inspector
general’s report released earlier this year. Agency officials said they would
like to be able to hold those who willfully break the rules, but they haven’t
requested more beds.
Indeed, Mr. Obama’s 2016 budget request
actually asked for fewer beds to hold detainees next year, arguing that he
wants to put more emphasis on the very alternatives that are being violated.
ICE’s treatment of those awaiting their
deportation proceedings has been controversial for several years. In 2013, the
agency released 36,007 convicted criminals who were awaiting the outcome of
their deportation cases. Those released had amassed 116 homicide convictions,
15,635 drunken driving convictions and 9,187 convictions stemming from what ICE
labeled involvement with “dangerous drugs.”
The total dropped to about 30,000 in 2014 —
but the seriousness of the offenses increased, with 193 homicide convictions
among the detainees and 16,070 drunken driving convictions. There were also 426
sexual assaults and 303 kidnapping convictions, ICE said.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and
ICE Director Sarah Saldana said the numbers were unacceptable and imposed new
rules requiring releases to be vetted by senior agency officials to make sure
they were correct. Both Mr. Johnson and Ms. Saldana also said many of the
releases are required and give them little discretion — particularly those made
under a 2001 Supreme Court decision known as the Zadvydas case, when the
justices ruled that immigrants couldn’t generally be detained indefinitely.
That means that if a home country won’t take someone back, ICE must release
them after about six months.
But the new numbers obtained by Mr. Goodlatte
suggest Zadvydas-related releases were fewer than 2,500 in 2014, or only about
8 percent of the total — compared to the 57 percent that ICE admits were
completely discretionary. The rest of the releases were divided between cases
where an immigration judge ordered bond or where ICE was unable to obtain
travel documents but it wasn’t considered a mandatory release under the
Zadvydas ruling.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/3/3700-illegal-immigrant-threat-level-1-criminals-re/
- See more at: http://www.teaparty.org/3700-worst-worst-illegal-alien-criminals-released-street-101805/?promocode=tpo-1748090&utm_source=newsemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tpo-1748090#sthash.7mLgLQyI.dpuf
Comments
It’s time to close the border and dismantle
Homeland Security.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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