Deadly, Violent Illegal Aliens Deserve No Favors, Says US Lawmaker – OpEd

A criminal alien from Haiti who was ordered deported by an immigration judge in 2007 after being convicted for two felonies was released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in October 2010 and went on to kill three Americans in Miami, Florida two months later, according to a report released by the U.S. House of Representatives this week.

This criminal alien was released in the United States because the Obama administration had halted deportations to Haiti in January 2010 and the federal government was not able to deport him back to Haiti due to two Supreme Court decisions that require the release of dangerous illegal and criminal immigrants back into American communities when they cannot be removed to their native country in the “reasonably foreseeable future.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) angrily released a statement yesterday saying, “It is a tragedy that three Americans lost their lives because a dangerous criminal [alien] could not be deported to his home country. This is a failure of both the Obama administration and our immigration system.”

“Kesler Dufrene, an immigrant from Haiti, was convicted of two felonies and ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2007. But because the Obama administration suspended all deportations to Haiti in January 2010, Dufrene couldn’t be deported to his home country,” Rep. Smith said.

Dangerous criminal immigrants deserve no favors from the federal government. The Obama administration should not grant blanket reprieve to illegal and criminal immigrants no matter what the circumstances are, stated the Republican lawmaker.

“Since Dufrene couldn’t be deported to Haiti, he was released into our communities because of two Supreme Court rulings that have inadvertently created a safe haven for dangerous illegal and criminal immigrants. Just because a criminal immigrant cannot be returned to their home country does not mean they should be freed into our communities. Dangerous criminal immigrants need to be detained,” the Texas lawmaker stated.

“Last year the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to remedy this problem, the Keep Our Communities Safe Act. This bill is desperately needed. We cannot continue to let dangerous criminal immigrants slip through the cracks of our legal justice system. While we are too late to prevent some tragedies, we should act to prevent many more,” Smith said.

The Deadly Alien

In the 2001 decision of Zadvydas v. Davis, the Supreme Court ruled that under current law, immigrants who had entered the U.S. and then ordered removed could not be detained for more than six months where removal would not occur in the “reasonably foreseeable future”.

In the 2005 case of Clark v. Martinez, the Supreme Court expanded its decision in Zadvydas to apply to illegal immigrants. According to observers, the problem with both of these rulings is that not every criminal alien who is ordered removed can be because of the unwillingness of some countries to accept return of their nationals.

“If a foreign nation doesn’t want one of its citizens returned because he or she is a danger to other people, why does the U.S. become responsible for these predators and criminals?” asks former New York police officer Iris Ortiz.

“Issues with repatriation run the gamut of problems with providing travel documents necessary for repatriation to blanket refusal of a country to accept return of criminal immigrants,” political strategist and attorney Mike Baker added.

As a result, the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have had no choice but to release thousands of criminal aliens into American neighborhoods. In the last two years, close to 8,000 criminal aliens with orders of removal were released in the U.S. because their own countries refused to take them back. Justice Department officials have stated that these criminal aliens include rapists, child molesters, murderers, and other dangerous criminals.

Last July, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Keep Our Communities Safe Act (H.R. 1932), a bill to stop the release of dangerous criminal immigrants into American communities. The bill was reported favorably to the House floor by a vote of 17-14 and provides a statutory basis for DHS to detain as long as necessary specified dangerous criminal immigrants under orders of removal who cannot be removed.

The 14 votes against H.R. 1932 were cast by Democrats on Chairman Smith’s committee.

“Does anyone see a pattern with many members of the Democrat Party? When it comes to criminals, terrorists, illegal aliens and other malefactors, the Democrats can always be counted on to take their sides,” said former military intelligence officer and police detective Michael Snopes.

“They worry more about prisoners in Gitmo than they do the American guards who are frequently attacked and mistreated. They decry the deportation of illegal aliens even if they’ve committed heinous acts. Or they become angry and indignant when an American state decides to execute a depraved killer,” said Snopes.