Four California House Republicans want to know why federal prosecutions of illegal immigrants convicted and deported in one Justice Department office after being caught illegally reentering the U.S. have dropped significantly he demands.
In a letter dated Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, members of Congress noted that more than 7 million people have illegally crossed the southern border into the United States since President Biden took office.
The letter, signed by U.S. Reps. Ken Calvert, John Duarte, Michelle Steele and Jay Obanolte, states: “Some of these illegal immigrants are convicted criminals, and they pose a threat to the safety of our communities. and pose a serious threat to human welfare.” “However, we have found that the Department of Justice is systematically reducing prosecutions of undocumented immigrants with criminal violations who have previously been deported.”
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An illegal immigrant sneaks through a hole in the U.S.-Mexico border wall in El Paso, Texas. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
The four senators asked the Justice Department to provide information on the number of prosecutions of illegal immigrants who were convicted of crimes while in the United States and deported, as well as prosecutorial guidelines for previously deported illegal immigrants. ing.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Justice.
California Congressman Bill Ezeiri spent four years filing the lawsuit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, which covers multiple counties, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties.
Many prosecutors are reluctant to take on types of cases where a suspect commits a crime in the U.S., is deported, and then reenters the U.S. illegally, which is a felony, Essayli said. He told FOX News Digital.
“The law is clear that these are felonies and should be prosecuted,” he said.
He said court records showed that prosecutors in his previous office had prosecuted hundreds of similar cases, but by 2023 there were only five.
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland (Eduardo Muñoz/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
He said many prosecutors and defense attorneys assume that suspects have served their sentences before being deported and are simply returning to the U.S. illegally to be with their families or other reasons. He pointed out that he does not like this type of incident because of the
“Many prosecutors are left-leaning and don’t like these cases and find them a nuisance and a burden,” he said.
Calvert blamed the high number of illegal border crossings on Biden’s border policies, which have faced harsh criticism from Republicans.
“The blatant disregard for federal law by illegal immigrants and the lack of enforcement by our court system is an example of President Biden’s open border policies that have created a humanitarian and national security crisis seen at the border and in every community. “It’s not just ‘all over the country,'” it said in a statement.
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Despite the idea that many immigrants come to the U.S. for work, some have bad intentions, Esseri said.
“They’re the bad guys. They’re not immigrants who came here to work on farms,” he said. “These people are convicted criminals, there’s no question about that…and the government is allowing them to roam freely in the United States knowing they have a criminal record.”
“These are the most dangerous people, and they are the ones this U.S. attorney’s office is allowing to be released,” he said.
