Earlier this week U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services admitted gang member and illegal alien Jesus Rangel-Hernandez, who has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in North Carolina, should have been deported but wasn't thanks to President Obama's executive amnesty, deferred action program [DACA].
"I understand that you are seeking information regarding a specific individual, including information regarding his involvement in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In addition, you are seeking the official policy and other information related to the adjudication of DACA requests from suspected or known gang members," a letter from USCIS to Grassley states (bolding is mine). "Our review of the file indicates on January 22, 2013, the individual requested deferred action pursuant to DACA. At the time of filing his request for deferred action, he was in removal proceedings as an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled. It appears he came to the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a result of a 2012 arrest for possession of marijuana for which charges were subsequently dismissed. Based on ICE records, there is no indication that ICE was aware at the time of the arrest that the individual was a gang member. His request for deferred action was approved on August 26, 2013, notwithstanding a TECS record indicating that he was a known gang member, and his application for employment authorization was approved. After the deferred action request was approved, immigration proceedings were administratively closed on December 18, 2013."
Hernandez was scheduled for deportation, applied for DACA, was approved and was able to stay. In February 2015, he allegedly murdered four people in North Carolina.
Police in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., said in a statement Wednesday that 19-year-old Emmanuel Jesus Rangel-Hernandez has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Mirjana Puhar and two other victims. The victims’ bodies were found Tuesday in a Charlotte home. Police did not reveal how they were killed.
Police say Rangel-Hernandez is also charged in connection with a murder at a motel Sunday.
“This agency’s admission is chilling. For some time, the administration has promised Americans that those who qualify for their executive order would fully meet a set of guidelines meant to keep criminals out of our country. We now know that isn’t true and that the agency tasked with implementing the President’s edict cannot effectively carry out the rule without compromising the safety of Americans. This is one more reason why the President’s habit of governing by proclamation is a poor replacement for actual law making,” North Carolina Senator Richard Burr said earlier this week.
“The flawed implementation of the President’s blanket deferred action program has created a loophole that allows dangerous criminals who came here illegally – even known gang members – to stay in the country. The USCIS needs to immediately start performing detailed criminal background checks to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future,” North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis added.
Today the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing examining the Obama administration's Central American Minors Refugee and Parole Program. During the unaccompanied minor crisis last summer, MS-13 gang members were using Border Patrol processing centers as recruitment areas and as a way to easily access the United States.