The Justice Department is guilty of whatever is the federal equivalent of an excessive end zone celebration. That the DOJ behaved this week in an unbecoming fashion is not so much the issue. That it played the role of partisan flack is.
A Honduran citizen has plead guilty to illegal re-entry after deportation, U.S. Attorney William McSwain announced this week.
“In May 2009, the defendant was deported from the United States. Thereafter, in March 2014, the defendant was found back in the United States by [ICE] officers. At that time, [Juan Ramon
Vasquez] was in the custody of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons,” the attorney noted.
He added, “The City of Philadelphia thereafter chose not to comply with a detainer lodged by ICE for the defendant, who was instead released from custody by the Philadelphia Department of Prisons. After his release, the defendant was rearrested and convicted for rape of a child and unlawful sexual contact with a minor. The defendant is currently serving a sentence of 8 to 20 years in state prison.”
Vasquez, who is scheduled to be sentenced for illegal re-entry on Nov. 20, 2018, faces a maximum of two additional years in prison.
So far so good.
The DOJ is doing a good job cleaning up Philadelphia’s mess. It’ll be up to immigration enforcement voices at the local level (and maybe even federal level, at the Department of Homeland Security) to get on the city’s leadership about what they’re doing wrong.
Unfortunately, some at the Justice Department decided this week that they’d be the ones to go after Philadelphia for its disastrous policies.
“The facts of this case highlight the danger posed by the City of Philadelphia’s decision to disregard ICE detainers and release previously deported aliens from local custody,” McSwain said this week in a statement.
He added, “Those of us in the law enforcement business should be doing everything in our power to protect vulnerable children from predators like Vasquez. Instead, this defendant received a free pass from the City of Philadelphia and its Department of Prisons, headed straight back into our community, and committed a heinous crime he never would have had the chance to commit had the City of Philadelphia complied with the ICE detainer.”
What is this? Is McSwain angling for a job with the Republican National Committee?
That’s not all.
The Justice Department’s public affairs office also circulated a follow-up email highlighting a June 6 tweet showing Philadelphia’s idiot mayor, Jim Kenney, and his idiot chief of staff, Jane Slusser, celebrating the city’s ruling affirming its status as a sanctuary city:
Needless to say, I think @janeslusser and @PhillyMayor are pretty excited about today’s ruling affirming Philadelphia as a Sanctuary City. pic.twitter.com/gdnnjZT9ps
— Steve Preston (@StevePrest) June 6, 2018
You’re not going to find a defense here of Philadelphia’s immigration policies. But you’re certainly not going to find a defense of the Justice Department acting like a flack for the White House.
The Philadelphia indictment is damnable enough without the Justice Department also dunking on city leadership with a targeted retrospective. It’s enough to underscore the consequences of Philly’s actions without also adding a smirking, “Told you so.”
Let’s leave the partisan burns to the partisans. The DOJ is better off playing it straight.
