Goodlatte: Administration’s Policies Create Sanctuary for Criminal Aliens

Washington, D.C.  – The House Judiciary Committee has obtained detailed information about the criminal aliens released by the Obama Administration during Fiscal Year 2015. This new information shows that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released thousands of criminal aliens convicted of offenses involving dangerous drugs, assault and domestic violence, stolen vehicles, robbery, sex offenses, sexual assault, kidnapping, voluntary manslaughter and other homicide-related offenses. According to information provided by ICE to the House Judiciary Committee, the agency released 19,723 criminal aliens with a total of 64,197 convictions in Fiscal Year 2015. ICE often claims that the Supreme Court’s decision in Zadvydas v. Davis forces it to release aliens that it would otherwise detain.  However, the total number of convicted criminal aliens released based on the Zadvydas decision totaled 2,166 in Fiscal Year 2015, representing only 11% of the releases. In addition, officials at the Department of Homeland Security have refused to support legislation, such as H.R. 1148, the Davis-Oliver Act, introduced by Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), that would allow, consistent with Zadvydas, for the continued detention of dangerous aliens who cannot be removed. Among the convictions of criminal aliens released in Fiscal Year 2015 are 101 homicide convictions, 216 kidnapping convictions, 320 sexual assault convictions, 352 commercialized sexual offenses, 1,347 domestic violence convictions, 1,728 assault convictions, and 12,307 driving under the influence of alcohol convictions. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) issued the following statement on this information.

Chairman Goodlatte: “The Obama Administration’s immigration policies have created a sanctuary for tens of thousands of criminal aliens. The American public has been misled by the enforcement priorities, deferred action, and executive action policies of this Administration, which categorize only certain so-called ‘serious’ criminal aliens as worthy of detention and then removal.  Despite its rhetoric, the fact remains that the Obama Administration continues to willingly free dangerous criminal aliens, allowing them to continue to prey upon communities across the United States. “Just last week, the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee heard from some of the families that have lost loved ones at the hands of criminal aliens that the Obama Administration could have detained and deported. When will the Obama Administration end its reckless policies that wreak havoc on our communities and all too often claim Americans’ lives? The Administration could end preventable tragedies if it simply enforced our nation’s immigration laws.”

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