Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today re-introduced the Keep Our Communities Safe Act (S.291) with Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), David Vitter (R-La.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). The legislation would close the legal loophole created by the U.S. Supreme Court in Zadvydas v. Davis case (2001) that requires immigration authorities to release back into the United States any immigrant that has not been accepted for deportation to other countries after being detained for six months. This practice is commonly referred to as “catch and release.”
Inhofe explains that tens of thousands of convicted criminals are released annually due to the loophole:
“Currently, if no other country will accept a convicted immigrant for deportation within six months, federal policy instructs for them to be released back into the United States. In 2013 alone, more than 36,000 immigrants convicted for crimes such as homicide and sexual assault were released back into our communities after their countries of origin failed to respond to deportation orders.”
The number of removals of criminal illegal aliens from the interior of the U.S. fell 17.9%, from 216,810 in FY2013 to 177,960 in FY2014, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) annual report shows.
And, about two-thirds of criminal aliens removed from the interior had already been removed previously or were immigration fugitives, the report shows:
“62% of ICE’s interior criminal alien removals were previously removed from the United States or were immigration fugitives, and 65 percent of all interior Level 3 (misdemeanor conviction) removals had previously been removed or were immigration fugitives.”
“While the president issues executive orders to flood our borders with illegal immigrants, he could be using his pen and phone to close a dangerous loophole that is allowing immigrants, who have committed a crime of violence or an aggravated felony, to roam freely in the United States,” Sen. Inhofe said, introducing the bill.
The bill would require the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) to re-certify every six months if a person is a threat and empowers DHS to detain non-removable immigrants beyond six months in these specific situations:
- The alien will be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future;
- The alien would have been removed but for the alien’s refusal to make all reasonable efforts to comply and cooperate with the Secretary’s efforts to remove him;
- The alien has a highly contagious disease;
- Release would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences;
- Release would threaten national security; or
- Release would threaten the safety of the community and the alien either is an aggravated felon or has committed a crime of violence.