Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is concerned that dangerous criminals and terrorists will not get deported when President Barack Obama enacts his executive amnesty and further weakens the nation’s immigration laws and enforcement mechanisms.
In a Wednesday letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Grassley, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote that it is “unsettling” that Obama “is intent on condoning contempt for the rule of law and ignoring his Constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.'”
“The egregious use of executive action and rule by fiat is bad enough, but knowing that undocumented criminals continue to be released into communities, even this past year, and could still remain in the country is outrageous,” Grassley said in a statement. “The Obama administration allowed tens of thousands of undocumented criminals to stay in communities across the country despite a policy specifically stating that these people be deported. The Department released murderers and domestic abusers from its custody. So, why would anyone trust this administration going forward?”
Grassley noted that Obama’s executive amnesty, which Obama will formally announce on Thursday evening, is “more disturbing” given that the Department of Homeland Security has admittedly failed “to deport 36,007 convicted criminals–including 169 homicide convicts–who were all released back onto the streets” in fiscal year 2013. Grassley said that because of these failures, “there is a genuine concern as to whether deportations of convicted criminals and those who pose a national security risk will be any different under a new enforcement memorandum.” Obama will reportedly scrap the “Secure Communities” program in addition to providing executive amnesty to as many as five million illegal immigrants.
Grassley emphasized that ICE even released illegal immigrants who were supposed to have been prioritized for deportation, including perpetrators of domestic violence and those convicted of “aggravated felonies,” which include “murder; rape; crimes of violence; drug trafficking; sex trafficking; sex offenses involving a minor; theft; burglary; crimes relating to the demand for or receipt of a ransom; treason; alien smuggling; obstruction of justice; commercial bribery; and forgery.”
Months after Grassley asked ICE’s Acting Director, Thomas Winkowski, in June of this year to give “a case summary of each homicide convict released in FY 2013,” the agency on August 15 confirmed that it “released 169 homicide convicts in FY 2013.” But ICE’s response left more questions than answers. Grassley said that he wrote the agency again and “requested new information, including the number of detainees who were released in FY 2013 despite convictions of sexual assault and whether they registered as sex offenders upon release” and “the number of aliens who were rearrested or convicted of another offense after being released in FY 2013.”
Since the Department of Homeland Security “overlooked the many T’s and I’s in its own June 2011 memorandum,” Grassley said “whatever the President’s threshold for readiness is, releasing convicted murderers and sex offenders back into our neighborhoods–instead of deporting them–without even providing basic information about post-release rearrests, reconvictions, and sex offender registration, is surely not it.”
Grassley asked the Department of Homeland security to provide responses to the questions below by December 8:
1. In FY 2014:
a. How many aliens did ICE release from its custody?
b. How many of these individuals had a criminal conviction?
c. How many total criminal offenses were these aliens convicted of?
d. What crimes were these aliens convicted of? Please specify by NCIC Offense Code each type of crime. In addition, for each type of crime, please provide the total number of convictions aliens released in FY 2014 accounted for.
e. How many of these aliens have been granted an employment authorization document?
2. Of the 36,007 criminal aliens whom ICE released in FY 2013:
a. How many total criminal offenses were these aliens convicted of?
b. What crimes were these aliens convicted of? Please specify by NCIC Offense Code each type of crime. In addition, for each type of crime, please provide the total number of convictions aliens released in FY 2013 accounted for.
3. Of the detainees whom ICE released in FY 2014, how many were Level 1 offenders? For each Level 1 offender whom ICE released in FY 2014, please specify:
a. The crime(s) he or she was convicted of;
b. The “positive factors” that sufficiently outweighed the risk he or she posed to public safety or national security so as to justify release; and
c. The country of citizenship.
4. Of the detainees whom ICE released in FY 2013, how many were Level 1 offenders? For each Level 1 offender whom ICE released in FY 2013, please specify:
a. The crime(s) he or she was convicted of;
b. The “positive factors” that sufficiently outweighed the risk he or she posed to public safety or national security so as to justify release; and
c. The country of citizenship.
5. How many aliens with treason or sabotage convictions did ICE release in FY 2013? In FY 2014? For each alien so released, please specify:
a. The crime(s) he or she was convicted of;
b. The “positive factors” that sufficiently outweighed the risk he or she posed to public safety or national security so as to justify release; and
c. The country of citizenship.
In a Wednesday letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Grassley, the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote that it is “unsettling” that Obama “is intent on condoning contempt for the rule of law and ignoring his Constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.'”
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