Congress complain to obummer re illegal immigrants crime but unsuccessfully

The chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are pressing the Obama administration on how a previously deported illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record — now charged with murdering five people — was able to evade deportation for years.

Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, an illegal immigrant from Mexico with numerous criminal convictions, was charged last week with the murder of five people in Kansas City, Kansas and Montgomery County, Missouri.

”On at least two occasions, ICE was notified of Serrano-Vitorino’s arrests, but for various reasons, did not take custody of him,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “It appears that there was a systemic failure to effectively communicate between ICE and local law enforcement entities, allowing Serrano-Vitorino to evade removal by taking advantage of at least one sanctuary jurisdiction and weak immigration enforcement policies.”

The lawmakers noted that, according to ICE, Serrano-Vitorino initially entered the U.S. illegally in 1993 but was deported following a number of crimes in April, 2004. Following his removal, he re-entered the country illegally that same month but was returned to Mexico by Border Patrol. He returned illegally again in 2007.

While in the U.S. Serrano-Vitorino has been arrested, charged, and convicted of with a number of violent crimes. As the chairmen detailed in their letter, “Serrano-Vitorino has been arrested and charged with numerous crimes, including: communicating a threat with intent to terrorize; battery of a spouse; several driving without a license offenses; a subsequent  felony conviction for communicating a threat with intent to terrorize, reportedly based on his threat to kill his wife with a rifle, for which he was sentenced to incarceration for two years; two arrests for driving under the influence, which resulted in one conviction; and a conviction for domestic battery.”

Goodlatte and Grassley say they want more details on his immigration history and contact with law enforcement to learn more about how Serrano-Vitorino was able to remain in the U.S. despite his illegal status and criminal record.

“As a result, five people in Missouri and Kansas were murdered, allegedly by Serrano-Vitorino, an alien who had illegally entered the United States on multiple occasions and consistently demonstrated his utter disregard for our laws,” they wrote.

The chairmen’s most recent missive follows a long line of letters to the Obama administration expressing outrage and demanding answers for how illegal immigrants with criminal records have slipped through the cracks and gone on to commit more, often violent crimes.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested more than two dozen criminal aliens throughout central Florida, at least one of whom was previously deported from the United States.

In what the agency terms a “targeted enforcement action,” ICE officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 25 criminal aliens from February 29 through March 4.

In keeping with the administration’s so-called “enforcement priorities” — which largely only enforces immigration law against those illegal immigrants who have committed a bad enough crime — the arrested criminal aliens had all committed offenses that met the administration’s top two priority levels.

Per the administration’s enforcement priorities — released in conjunction with President Obama’s November 2014 executive amnesty programs — “Priority 1” illegal immigrants are those who are a national security threat, gang member, and/or those convicted of felonies. “Priority 2” include illegal immigrants convicted of three or more misdemeanors or of “significant” misdemeanors, including drunk-driving.

“ICE prioritizes convicted criminals and public safety threats for apprehension and removal,” Marc J. Moore, field office director for the Miami ERO Field Office, said in a statement. “Our enforcement actions last week made our communities safer today.”

According to ICE, offenses committed by those illegal immigrants arrested included manslaughter, child abuse, robbery, false imprisonment, felony DUI, hit and run, armed burglary, racketeering, and weapons and drug offenses.

The arrestees’ countries of origin included Ecuador, the United Kingdom, Morocco, Mexico, Turks & Caicos, El Salvador, Jamaica, Trinidad, Canada, England, and Guyana.

In recent years the Obama administration has come under fire for releasing criminal illegal immigrants back into the U.S. rather than deporting them. Monday, the Center for Immigration Studies released a report detailing how since 2010, 124 criminal aliens released by “Obama administration policies” went on to be charged with murder.

Recent estimates pin the number of criminal aliens with deportation orders currently at large in the U.S. at 179,000.

According to ICE, “Ninety-eight percent of ICE’s fiscal 2015 removals and returns fell into one or more of ICE’s civil immigration enforcement priorities, with 86 percent falling in Priority 1 and eight percent in Priority 2.”