Email, Carl Rusnok, director of communications, Central Region, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, June 2, 2014

5:13 p.m.

Your email request was forwarded to me for response.  Below is the ICE response to your request.

ICE STATEMENT:

“Convicted criminals come into the agency’s custody to undergo removal proceedings after they have already satisfied the terms of their criminal sentence. In many of the releases in 2013, ICE was required by law to release the individuals from custody, pursuant to decisions by the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Once in ICE custody, many of the individuals described in the report were released under restrictions such as GPS monitoring, telephone monitoring, supervision, or bond.

The releases required by court decisions account for a disproportionate number of the serious crimes listed in the report. For example, mandatory releases account for over 72% of the homicides listed.

Others, typically those with less serious offenses, were released as a discretionary matter after career law enforcement officers made a judgment regarding the priority of holding the individual, given ICE’s resources, and prioritizing the detention and removal of individuals who pose a risk to public safety or national security.”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Under immigration law, not all crimes render an individual removable from the United States.

Moreover, multiple court decisions require the release from custody of certain removable individuals with criminal records. For example, in Zadvydas v. Davis, the Court held that the Government must release certain individuals who demonstrate that they are not significantly likely to be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future. This may occur when a detainee is a national of a country that does not accept or unreasonably delays the return of its nationals, such as through a refusal to issue travel documents in a timely manner or in the case of countries with which the United States has limited diplomatic relations.

Carl Rusnok

Director of Communications, Central Region (Spokesman)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) www.ice.gov