Widow of man allegedly murdered by illegal alien blames ICE
Widow of man allegedly murdered by illegal alien blames ICE
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Julie Nordman, (l.), believes her husband Randy was killed by someone who should never have been in the US. (Julie Nordman)
March 01, 2017
A Missouri widow told U.S. senators Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed her family after an illegal alien went on a killing spree, allegedly taking four lives, plus her husband.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs heard the testimony of Julie Nordman, whose husband, Randy, was murdered in their New Florence, Missouri, home in early 2016. The panel also heard from law enforcement officials citing similar tragedies committed by individuals who had illegally entered the United States.
Nordman told the committee that had ICE authorities “just done their jobs” the victims would still be alive.
“And most importantly to me, my husband would still be here. Instead, every day that I’m at our house, I’m reminded of this tragic event,” Nordman said. “I wish you could bring myhusband back, but we all know that can’t happen. What you can do, is make sure that this doesn’t happen to another innocent family in the future.”
The man who is charged, Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, is also charged with killing four others in Kansas City, just the day before killing Randy Nordman. Serrano-Vitorino had been deported in 2004 after fulfilling a two-year prison sentence, but managed to illegally re-enter the U.S. According to Nordman’s testimony, Serrano-Vitorino invaded their home early on the morning of March 8, 2016, while her husband was getting ready for work. Nordman found her husband shot dead on the kitchen floor.
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Ranking member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., sent a letter inviting ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan to the hearing, but he declined.
“ICE is the only agency capable of providing detailed answers and information about these cases, and it’s deeply concerning that they’ve declined to send someone to speak with the victim’s family, law enforcement, and Republican and Democratic members of the Committee,” McCaskill said. “Their absence is creating a troubling pattern of Administration officials continually dodging oversight requests from this committee—a pattern that cannot be allowed to continue.”
Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., sent a letter to ICE on Tuesday requesting documentation and information about criminal illegal aliens in an effort to determine whether or not the individuals held in connection to the crimes would make them a priority for removal under President Trump's Jan. 25 Executive Order on enhancing public safety.
ICE did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Nordman told the committee that she was never contacted by ICE or anyone from the government to “express their remorse,” although she read in media reports that ICE would monitor her husband’s case.
“I find their statement couldn’t be any further from the truth,” Nordman said. “Not only has ICE failed us, but our borders have failed us.”
In addition to Nordman’s testimony, the panel heard from Chief Deputy Ryan Rectenwald of Grant County, Washington, who shared the story of Jill Marie Sunberg, the 31-year-old who was killed by five illegal aliens shortly before Christmas 2016.
“The fact that these suspects were here illegally isn’t my point,” Rectenwald said. “It’s that the shooter was still in the U.S. after being convicted of crimes, and previously deported.”
Rectenwald also shared instances of drug trade through the “porous” southwest border, sharing accounts of an increase in accessibility and affordability for drugs like, heroin, which Chairman Johnson described as an “affordable, destructive habit.” According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, 10,574 Americans died from heroin-related overdoses in 2014.
“This is actually pretty simple -- not a whole lot of complexity to what I’m trying to accomplish here -- just trying to lay out with some powerful stories about what happens when a nation does not secure its borders or enforce our immigration laws,” Johnson said, citing President Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday night. “To me, the role of federal government — the top priority, is the defense of this nation, the defense of this homeland, the security of its borders and the security of its citizens – that’s all this hearing is about.”
Trump has directed the Department of Homeland Security to hire 10,000 ICE officers and agents, along with 5,000 border patrol agents.
“Border security and immigration laws are not just a concern for our communities along the border — they affect all Americans,” Johnson said. “We need to understand the consequences of not securing our borders and not enforcing our immigration laws.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017...lames-ice.html
Lawsuit: ICE was negligent when previously deported KCK felon allegedly killed five
July 10, 2017
Tony Rizzo
Federal immigration officials negligently allowed a Kansas City, Kan., man to remain in the country illegally before he allegedly killed five men in a 2016 shooting spree, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., by the families of two of the five men who Pablo Serrano-Vitorino is now charged with killing.
Serrano-Vitorino had previously been deported after he was convicted of a felony in 2003.
But according to the suit, Serrano-Vitorino re-entered the country illegally and had several brushes with local law enforcement agencies before March 2016, when he allegedly stormed into a neighbor’s home in Kansas City, Kan., and fatally shot four men.
Later that day, he allegedly shot and killed another man in Montgomery County, Mo., before he was arrested.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the widow and two children of Clint Harter, one of the four men killed in Kansas City, Kan., and the widow of Randy Nordman, the Missouri man who was killed.
According to the suit, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had the opportunity to detain Serrano-Vitorino for illegally re-entering the country after he was arrested in 2014 and 2015.
In 2014, Wyandotte County officials notified ICE that Serrano-Vitorino was in jail for domestic battery, according to the suit. But authorities had to release him because no ICE agent came to interview him in person.
Then in 2015, he was pulled over by Overland Park police for traffic violations. After he was fingerprinted at Overland Park Municipal Court, ICE prepared paperwork to have him detained.
But the paperwork was sent to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, which did not have Serrano-Vitorino in custody. Overland Park officials, unaware of the paperwork, released him.
“Clint and Randy’s deaths are the direct and proximate result of the failure of ICE officials, officers and/or agents to carry out their required duties, which failure provided the means for a convicted felon who was illegally in the country, but in custody, to be released and kill Clint and Randy and three other victims,” according to the suit.
An ICE spokesman said Monday that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
“Clint and Randy’s deaths were foreseeable and preventable had the ICE officials, officers and/or agents involved simply followed the laws, regulations and/or procedures, which they were required to uphold,” the suit alleges.
The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
Serrano-Vitorino is currently jailed in St. Louis where he is awaiting trial on a charge of first-degree murder in Nordman’s death. The case was moved from Montgomery County on a change of venue.
He also is charged with first-degree murder in Wyandotte County for the deaths of Clint Harter; his brother, Austin Harter, and Mike Capps and Jeremy Waters.
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