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September 21, 2006

Hart Supports Legislation to End Illegal Immigrant “Catch-and-Release” Policy


In wake of local illegal immigrant arrests, Hart votes for legislation to secure borders, better coordinate local and federal efforts and enact harsher penalties

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Melissa Hart voted today to pass the Community Protection Act, which ends the controversial “catch-and-release” policy that has allowed illegal immigrants to go free even after they have been caught by law enforcement officials.

Because of previous court rulings, current law does not allow the Department of Homeland Security to deport many illegal aliens, even if they have criminal records. Current law also requires that many illegal immigrants be released after six months. The Community Protection Act allows illegal aliens to be held for additional six-month periods and allows the period of detention to be renewed.

Congresswoman Hart noted that the illegal immigrant problem is not restricted to states along the southern border and cited the recent arrest of illegal immigrants in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“Ending the ‘catch-and-release’ policy and securing our borders are not only critical parts of our national security, they are imperative in our efforts to fight crime,” said Hart. “The recent arrest of illegal immigrants from a household that also had loaded guns in Beaver County should serve as a reminder to all of us – illegal immigration is not solely a problem for states along our southern border, it is a national security problem. Securing our borders and deporting violent illegal immigrants must be a priority.”

A recent audit conducted by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General showed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported that 696 high-risk aliens were released as a result of the current law in the first six months of 2005. In addition, a 2005 GAO study of 55,322 illegal alien criminals found:

• They were arrested for nearly 700,000 criminal offenses, averaging 13 offenses per alien.

• About 24 percent were drug offenses.

• About 15 percent were property-related offenses such as burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and property damage.

• About 12 percent were for murder, robbery, assault, and sexually-related crimes. 

Congresswoman Hart also voted today to support the Immigration Law Enforcement Act, which reaffirms the authority of state and local law enforcement to voluntarily investigate, arrest, detain and transfer illegal immigrants to federal custody. The legislation also increases the amount of attorneys available to prosecute smugglers.

Hart noted that in a recent meeting she organized for first responders, many local police officers cited confusion on the powers they had to detain illegal immigrants and confusion over coordination with federal officials. “I recently met with several local police officers who told me that they are confused about their authority to arrest and detain illegal immigrants. In addition, confusion exists as to how to coordinate their efforts with federal officials,” said Hart. “This legislation makes it clear that local officials have the ability to detain illegal immigrants and provides instruction on how to transfer control of illegal immigrants to federal officials.”

Hart added that the Immigration Law Enforcement Act will also help to close loopholes that have encouraged the “catch-and-release” of illegal immigrants. “This bill closes loopholes and modernizes our laws to make it easier for the Department of Homeland Security to send illegal immigrants back home sooner without releasing them back into society,” said Hart. “For instance, an injunction dating back to the 1980s prevents us from expediting Salvadorians who have illegally entered our country, even though the injunction relates to the El Salvadorian civil war, which ended years ago. It also forbids us from detaining these individuals while they await their deportation proceedings and many criminal gangs have taken advantage of this loophole.”

The third bill passed by the House of Representatives today, the Border Tunnel Prevention Act, enacts criminal penalties for up to 20 years for individuals who knowingly construct or finance the construction of an unauthorized tunnel across any U.S. border. Since September 11, 2001, U.S. authorities have discovered 38 tunnels crossing international borders into the U.S. These tunnels range in complexity from simple “gopher holes” to complex passageways built by drug gangs. As recently as last week, a tunnel was located beneath a residence in Calexico, California extending approximately 400 feet to a residence in Mexicali, Mexico. The tunnel was the focus of an ongoing investigation undertaken by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Imperial County, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Border Patrol, and the Calexico Police Department.

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