U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have knowingly released nearly more than 165,000 criminally-convicted illegal immigrants during President Obama’s tenure as chief executive, including many charged with violent crimes like robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault.
Documents obtained by the nonprofit transparency watchdog Judicial Watch show that federal immigration officials released 165,900 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions into the nation, as well as an additional 706,000 illegal immigrants who had not been convicted of crimes, as of April 26, 2014.
The documents also describe some of the difficulties presented to federal immigration officials in dealing with sanctuary cities — local jurisdictions like San Francisco that refuse to cooperate with efforts to return illegal immigrants to their home countries.
In Montgomery County, Md., for example, the documents describe how immigration enforcement officials were blocked from interviewing an illegal immigrant held in a local jail on rape charges due to the county’s “prohibitions on immigration enforcement,” according to Judicial Watch.
As the Washington Examiner previously reported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations overall dropped 58 percent from 2009 to 2014, while deportations of criminally convicted illegal immigrants have fallen by 43 percent since 2012.
Judicial Watch obtained the documents after the department attempted to sidestep its May 2014 FOIA. The nonprofit sued the department in federal court.
“It’s appalling that we’ve had to sue in federal court to get key information about the Obama administration’s release of 165,950 convicted criminal aliens,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.
“These documents show the Obama administration is lying when it says that its ‘enforcement priorities’ include deporting illegal aliens who have committed heinous crimes. And lawless localities that help protect illegal alien rapists and other criminals show that politicians at all levels put politics above the rule of law and the public safety.”
