He had been charged with capital murder in the beating death of a Houston man. The INS and its parent agency, the Department of Justice, are charged with protecting Americans, not exposing us to more criminals. The Resendez and Castillo cases are not the first indication that many crimes committed in the U.S. can be traced to deportable aliens who were released by the Justice Department. The 1996 immigration reform law I authored required the INS to produce two reports on the number of criminal aliens it released. Both reports are long overdue.
Crimes committed by non-citizens are a serious problem.
And a General Accounting Office report last year that I commissioned showed the INS had released 1,300 aggravated felons into our communities in one six month period alone. The Justice Department can use FBI records to check on criminal activity of the more than 25,000 criminal aliens released from INS detention since 1995. The intent of this subpoena is to gather information so we can enforce our laws and protect the American people. The government must be held accountable.