Thread: 2,000 CRIMINAL ALIENS SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE, GOP SENATORS WANT ANSWERS

by CAROLINE MAY
15 Oct 2015

Republican lawmakers are expressing concern about the Obama administration’s plans to release some 2,000 federally jailed criminal aliens scheduled for deportation as part of the government’s new sentencing rules for drug convictions.

The Justice Department plans to released nearly 6,000 federal prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug crimes, a third of those criminals slated for release are foreign nationals who are expected to be deported.

In the wake several high profile murders committed by illegal immigrants with criminal records, Sens. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) argue the Obama administration must ensure that such tragedies will not be repeated.

In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Department of Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson released Thursday, the trio pressed for more assurances about the upcoming releases, highlighting the recent murders at the hands of illegal immigrants with criminal records.

“As you are no doubt aware, recent tragedies have raised widespread concerns regarding the handling of criminal alien cases,” they wrote in the letter dated Oct. 13. “For example, Apolinar Altamirano has been charged with murdering Grant Ronnebeck, a convenience store clerk in Mesa Arizona, after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began removal proceedings but allowed Altamirano to post $10,000 bond.”

The Justice Department and DHS, Flake, Grassley, and Johnson argued, have an obligation to ensure that such criminal alien crimes do not happen again. They further pressed Sec. Johnson and Lynch for more information to ensure prompt removal of released criminal aliens — including whether the government will hold them in advance of their deportations.

“We are in support of reforming federal sentencing policies and hope that Congress will turn its attention to the issue soon, but we must do so in a responsible manner that does not compromise public safety,” they conclude.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...-want-answers/

Top GOP Presidential Contenders Support Mandatory Minimum Reform

Post Date: July 18, 2014

According to a new Gallup poll, “four potential Republican presidential candidates stand out above the rest of the possible field.” The standard for “standing out” seems to be that all four are “familiar to more than 60 of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and have net favorable ratings of at least 43-percentage points.”

The four potential candidates who meet that standard are former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Interestingly, all four leading contenders support mandatory minimum reform.

Governor Huckabee has long been critical of harsh mandatory sentences, especially for nonviolent drug offenders. He’s called three strikes laws “nonsense” that have “created a system that is overrun with people,” adding that “the cost is choking us.” And after the Department of Justice announced new guidelines for prosecuting drug offenders, Huckabee tweeted, “Finally found something I can agree with Eric Holder on—sentencing too many people to prison for nonviolent drug crimes.” (You can also listen to a great conversation between Huckabee and Ted Nugent on the topic here.)

Texas Governor Rick Perry has been similarly outspoken on the need for criminal justice and sentencing reforms. At a panel earlier this year at CPAC, Governor Perry criticized “harsh minimum sentencing guidelines” and endorsed alternatives to incarceration for drug offenders. He highlighted Texas’ reforms, and added that Texas is “not a soft on crime state, but I hope we get the reputation of being a smart on crime state.” Perry went further, explaining that conservatives should be leading on criminal justice reform: “You want to talk about real conservative governance? Shut prisons down. Save that money.”

Congressman Paul Ryan has also embraced sentencing reform. Earlier this year, Congressman Ryan visited “some of the poorest communities in America, trying to find out what really works in the fight to achieve equal opportunity.” He was asked to “reflect on a previously held ideological view that had changed over the course of his learning tour.” According to Ron Christie, the author of the piece, “Without hesitation, Ryan delved into the need to reform federal sentencing guidelines.” Ryan said:

I think our sentencing guidelines need to be revisited with an eye towards what actually works to make sure a person can hit their upward potential. Is it better to send someone to a successfully proven drug rehab program so they can knock the habit and get back on their feet again, or is it [better to] put them away for 16 years?

And then added:

I think we had a trend in America for a long time on mandatory minimums where we took away discretion from judges. I think there’s an appreciation that that approach has some collateral damage—that that approach is missing in many ways…I think there is a new appreciation that we need to give judges more discretion in these areas.

Congressman Ryan is currently a co-sponsor of the “Smarter Sentencing Act,” which would significantly reform federal mandatory minimum laws.

Senator Paul is probably the most outspoken critic of mandatory minimum laws. Not only has Senator Paul sponsored the excellent “Justice Safety Valve Act,” which would restore some judicial discretion to all federal crimes that carry mandatory minimums, he’s called mandatory minimums a “major culprit in our unbalanced and often unjust drug laws.” What’s more, Senator Paul has actually called for eliminating mandatory minimums altogether.

In some ways, it is fascinating and remarkable to think that all of the top four GOP presidential contenders have publicly called into question mandatory minimums and endorsed reform or repeal of mandatory minimum laws. Of course, in other ways it’s not so remarkable. I’ve long held that the consistent application of basic conservative principles demands repeal of mandatory minimums, and noteworthy conservatives have been sounding those themes for years.
Conservatives understand that government has certain clearly defined roles. Criminal justice is obviously one such role. At the same time, government needs to be efficient and effective, giving taxpayers the most “bang for their buck.” It is incredibly encouraging to see that many leaders of the Republican party have (finally!) recognized that mandatory minimums are a fool’s errand, and are committed to fixing the problems these laws have created.

(And by the way, are we really still going to pretend there’s a political downside to opposing mandatory minimums?)
~Greg Newburn, FAMM Florida Project Director

http://famm.org/top-gop-presidential...inimum-reform/

Add this to the disaster..

http://www.alipac.us/f12/incredible-...t-free-329186/

This is treason. There's no other word for it. DHS is infected with Traitors. Plain and simple. Congress should investigate how many employees of DHS are American citizens versus how many are Visa, Green Card and Illegal Aliens. I bet the number is shocking.

We have to be very careful here. We don't even know the records of those here illegally and would not allow a person to come through legally if they had such a criminal history. Why in the world would we use our own citizens to test the behavior of these illegal alien criminals and then allow them to stay after a crime is committed. This is a complete failure of our President and Congress. We have been sold out in so many ways. While we are still in a position to deal with these types of problems, we don't deal with them correctly at all. This is a perfect example of how the President has divided this country as no other has before him. Making America safer by deporting illegal criminal aliens should not be partisan, it should be something that every American demands as a part of National Security. I did not vote for BO and do not trust those that did and are willing to continue to vote for candidates that will continue this treasonous behavior.

Obama Admin. released 60% of criminal illegal aliens in 2015

updated: Wed, Mar 9^th 2016 @ 1:30 pm EST

Immigration and Customs Enforcement released 90,000 illegal aliens back onto the streets that were deemed as criminal threats in 2015. The massive release was a result of Pres. Obama’s Priority Enforcement Program that puts the focus only on criminal aliens who pose a "serious" threat.

In fiscal year 2015 ICE encountered 152,393 illegal criminal aliens, mostly through local jails, but only charged 64,116. According to Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, around 88,000 were not even processed for deportation.

In December 2015 Assistant Homeland Security Secretary, Sarah R. Saldana, testified before Congress that ICE was unable to deport many of the illegal aliens due to court orders or because of a Supreme Court case that limits how long an illegal alien can be detained.

Many sheriffs and local law enforcement around the country try to work with ICE to notify them when an illegal alien charged with a crime is about to be freed. Most of the time ICE asks for a 48-hour detainer on the illegal alien.

However, due to lack of support from the federal government they are not legally allowed to hold the illegal immigrants longer and are afraid of lawsuits if they comply with the ICE requests.

Even those that ICE is able to seize are often released as a result of the Obama administration’s failed immigration policies. Many of the criminal aliens immediately return to the same communities they were previously living in, some without even being processed for deportation after committing their crime.

This has become a huge issue for local law enforcement, who are usually blamed for the release of the illegal criminal alien. Susan Benton, sheriff of Florida's Highlands County, said "We're the bad guys, we're the ones CNN is on saying, 'That sheriff let that killer out.”

https://www.numbersusa.com/news/obam...al-aliens-2015

Basically, another amnesty form......for illegal alien criminal drug traffickers, to be allowed to stay and continue their drug dealing, smuggling in USA. O is an un-American sicko and ryan goes along with it...

Current prison reform bill would release criminal aliens into U.S. (with no deportations)

apr 11^th 2016 @ 9:37 am EDT by Chris Chmielenski

Unfortunately, the legislation being considered by Congress in response to concerns about overly-long prison sentences for Americans has been crafted to primarily benefit criminal aliens. (Those are not Americans but citizens of other countries who have been imprisoned for committing serious crimes in the U.S.)

That's the conclusion of our legislative affairs team after several weeks of scrutinizing documents and reports, and of meeting with a number of experts on the issue.

But we have to get involved with the current sentencing reform legislation (companion bills S. 2123 and H.R. 3713) because most of the people who would benefit from it would be criminal aliens who would be helped to avoid deportation and to re-enter the job market to the detriment of struggling American workers.

Reports are surfacing in Washington that both chambers of Congress are preparing this spring to pass S. 2123 and H.R. 2713 which were approved by the respective Judiciary Committees last October.

Speaker Paul Ryan has called passing the legislation a priority.

As currently written, the legislation would result in the massive release of criminal aliens from federal prisons into the streets. It could alternatively be called the Criminal Alien Prison Release Act of 2016, but that bill title probably wouldn't garner many votes in Congress.

The bills would retroactively reduce the minimum sentencing requirements for all individuals (regardless of their citizenship or immigration status) convicted of certain federal crimes. It would only apply to federal prisons, which comprise 9% of the entire incarcerated population in the United States.

Its impact on reforming sentencing guidelines for U.S. citizens would be minimal.

In a letter sent to Sen. Jeff Sessions last fall, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that 77% of individuals convicted of federal drug possession charges and more than 25% of individuals convicted of federal drug trafficking charges in FY2015 were non-citizens. Since these are the individuals who would most likely be released, you can see our concern with the legislation.

Further, there is no requirement in the legislation that Immigration and Customs Enforcement take custody of a criminal alien who is released and remove them from the United States, even when their conviction by current law should result in their immediate removal under current law.

In October of 2015, the Obama Administration released 6,600 inmates from federal prison after the U.S. Sentencing Commission revised its guidelines. One-third of those released were non-citizens. Shortly before the release, the Center for Immigration Studies uncovered a letter written by 14 immigration-expansionist organizations to the Department of Homeland Security, pleading with the Administration to consider the criminal aliens for prosecutorial discretion under Pres. Obama's 2014 executive actions.

"We urge ICE not to rush to judgment on these immigrants' cases, but instead to commit to ensuring individualized due process in each case. ...
"Each of these immigrants, including those with an "aggravated felony" and those with final removal orders, must be individually assessed for [Prosecutorial Discretion]. The 2014 DHS civil enforcement priorities memorandum specifies that removal of Priority 1 immigrants may be deprioritized if "there are compelling and exceptional factors that clearly indicate the alien is not a threat to national security, border security, or public safety and should not therefore be an enforcement priority."

The full letter can be read here.

Given the Administration's history on interior enforcement, the bills, as written, would allow tens of thousands of deportable criminal aliens to return to the American communities they victimized in the first place. Just last year, the Administration released 90,000 criminal aliens from custody -- roughly 60% of all criminal aliens it came in contact with. In fact, the criminal aliens who were responsible for the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle and the 2014 murders of California Detective Michael Davis, Jr. and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver had been earlier convicted for the same class of federal drug crimes that lawmakers seek to reform through this legislation.

Unfortunately, the provisions of the bills that would result in the release of criminal aliens are central to the efforts of both House and Senate-- and key to the Democrats' support of the bills. Unless the criminal alien issues are addressed, NumbersUSA must call for rejection of the legislation. Sentencing reform efforts should focus on new legislation that isn't a Trojan horse for yet another kind of amnesty.

Local American communities (disproportionately Black and Hispanic) into which released criminal aliens likely would return should not be asked to bear this burden under an Administration that has eviscerated immigration enforcement.

https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/curr...o-deportations