Documents the Boston Globe obtained from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveal that immigration officials have freed over 8,500 aliens convicted of crimes such as murder and rape since 2008. (Boston Globe, Dec. 9, 2012) These releases are attributable mainly to the Supreme Court's ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, in which the Court held that an alien who had completed his sentence but whose country of origin refused repatriation could not be detained indefinitely. (See Zadvydas v. Davis,533 U.S. 678 (2001)) Currently, over twenty governments worldwide refuse to repatriate criminal nationals from the United States. (Boston Globe, Dec. 9, 2012)
Of particular concern is the underhanded nature by which DHS carries out the process of releasing these criminal aliens. First, ICE rarely attempts to utilize protocols that would permit a criminal alien to be kept in custody longer. The Boston Globe's analysis of the ICE records reveal that of the thousands of criminal aliens ICE has released since 2008, there were only 13 instances where ICE attempted to petition the courts to lengthen a criminal alien's detention period on the grounds of the alien posing a danger to the public. (Id.)
In addition, ICE repeatedly refuses to disclose the names of released criminal aliens. According to ICE, the privacy of criminal aliens outweighs American citizens' need for awareness. DHS spokesman Matthew Chandler told the Boston Globe, "in the absence of any identified public interest or explanation as to how the disclosure of the arrestees' information will advance that interest, the personal privacy interests will prevail." (Id.)
According to the Boston Globe, ICE has expressly refused on over twenty occasions to provide the names of the criminal aliens who have been released since 2008. (Boston Globe, Dec. 9, 2012) The paper has nowfiled a lawsuit to continue its attempts to uncover the names of criminal aliens ICE has released. (Id.)
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www.fairus.org/legislative-updates/fair-legislative-update-december-17-2012
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