Newsletter - Releasing Illegal Immigrants

Statement

In late February, news reports appeared saying that the Department of Homeland Security had released hundreds of illegal immigrants from custody. Some of these individuals had criminal backgrounds; others did not. But the common thread was that they had all entered the country illegally.

The Department claimed that this action was taken in the name of cost savings due to the then-impending sequestration. I, like many of you, couldn't believe the Federal government would willingly release illegal immigrants, rather than find ways to save money elsewhere.

On March 8th, I joined 36 of my House colleagues in sending a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano seeking answers as to who was released and what criteria was used to determine the process. We also asked how the department planned on tracking those released.

Just last week -- two months after we sent our letter -- the agency decided to respond. We discovered that Immigration and Customs Enforcement released 2,226 detainees, prioritizing those "not subject to mandatory detention" and those who "posed no significant threat to public safety." According to the letter, those who have not been re-detained are on "some form of supervised release," meaning bond or telephone monitoring, for instance.

I find it naïve to expect that the agency is fully monitoring all of those individuals it released, and fear this is just another effort by this Administration to promote amnesty. As we said in our letter, the decision to release these illegal immigrants under the guise of saving money is extraordinary, unprecedented and dangerous, and it cannot happen again.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves

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