ICE Responds to Release of 36,007 Criminal Aliens
Caroline May, Breitbart, May 13, 2014
Many of the 36,007 convicted criminal immigrants ICE released last year were let out of detention with restrictions, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman told Breitbart News.
In a statement responding to a new Center for Immigration Studies report about the more than 36,000 released criminal immigrants, convicted of nearly 88,000 crimes (from traffic violations to murder), ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzales emailed that many were released under supervision, GPS monitoring, telephone monitoring, or surety bond.
“In some of the releases in 2013, ICE was required by law to release the individuals from custody, pursuant to decisions by the Supreme Court and other federal courts,” Gonzales explained.
“The releases required by court decisions account for a disproportionate number of the serious crimes listed in the report,” she continued. “For example, mandatory releases account for over 75 percent of the [193] homicides listed.”
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The Supreme Court case Zadvydas v. Davis prevents the government from indefinitely holding immigrants who are not likely to be removed in the near future–for example if their home country will not take them back.
According to ICE, in those circumstance, Zadvydas often results in ICE releasing such detainees after 180 days–regardless of their criminal history.
Gonzales noted that the other releases were a “discretionary matter.”
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Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith expressed outrage at the report, saying that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson must “come clean and provide the Committee with answers” at an upcoming DHS oversight hearing.
