We already know that President Biden wants to go down as America's most progressive president. Hence why the progressive caucus, most vocally consisting of The Squad, has an outsized influence on the president's decision-making. Biden acknowledged, for example, he knew extending the eviction moratorium was unconstitutional, but because Rep. Cori Bush made a statement by sleeping on the Capitol steps in protest, Biden went forward anyway. But there's a big difference between pressure from elected leaders shaping administration decisions vs. activist groups. And that's exactly what appears to be happening at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
According to exclusive reporting by Fox News's Tucker Carlson, Tania Mattos, a far-left activist supportive of abolishing ICE, not only got a "stay of removal" blocking the deportation of convicted felon Marvin Jerezano Peña but did so rather quickly.
"A federal immigration judge ordered Peña removed from the country back in July of last year," Carlson said, referring to the emails his program obtained from June 7. "But Mattos didn't care and wanted ICE to overlook that ruling, so she emailed an ICE attorney asking for assistance on the case of Marvin Jerezano Peña. Just 20 minutes after she sent her email, the ICE attorney forwarded it to Tim Perry, that's ICE's chief of staff, and said it's a 'time-sensitive matter.'"
"Perry deemed that request so important that he requested his staff produce a report on Peña, then discussed the activist's request on a call with ICE Director Tae Johnson," Carlson continued. "He forwarded the criminal report to Johnson and said, 'I mentioned this on our call earlier. Sharing.' Johnson responded, 'Gents – Can we grant a 14-day stay of removal on this.' An official responded, 'Will do.'"
Carlson pointed out that this was a priority even as a humanitarian crisis rages at the border.
"Our country is being invaded by the rest of the world," he said, "and they're worried about how they can keep a felon in our country without you knowing about it. They're doing it based on a single email from an activist who wants ICE to be eliminated so the director of ICE decided to protect a convicted criminal illegal immigrant from deportation."
ICE confirmed to Carlson's program that Peña is still in the U.S.
"A spokesperson told us that ICE 'routinely works alongside' non-governmental organizations, crazy left-wing ones that hate America," he said. "They no longer have to eliminate ICE, they're in charge of it."
Tucker Carlson reveals an internal email from ICE showing that a far-left activist was able to get the agency to halt the deportation of an illegal immigrant with a violent criminal record. pic.twitter.com/05Od7TBKCp
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 11, 2021