Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney performed a celebration dance in June when a federal judge ruled the Department of Justice (DOJ) could not withhold funds from the city due to their sanctuary status.
But there were no dances on Tuesday when U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain argued that if it were not for the city’s sanctuary policies, criminal alien Juan Ramon Vasquez would not have had the opportunity to rape a child.
“Those of us in the law enforcement business should be doing everything in our power to protect vulnerable children from predators like Vasquez. Instead, this defendant received a free pass from the City of Philadelphia and its Department of Prisons, headed straight back into our community, and committed a heinous crime he never would have had the chance to commit had the City of Philadelphia complied with the ICE detainer,” charged McSwain.
At a press conference to announce that Vasquez, who was deported back to his native Honduras in 2009, had entered guilty plea to criminal re-entry, McSwain said the case highlights “the danger posed by the City of Philadelphia’s decision to disregard ICE detainers and release previously deported aliens from local custody.”
And the facts of the case back him up.
Vasquez was detained and placed into the custody of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons in 2014, but was released after Philadelphia would not honor an ICE detainer.
The Vasquez outrage is not the first time Philadelphia’s mayor has allowed criminals to walk back into the lives of law-abiding residents.
- In June, ICE arrested Guillermo Leon-Sandoval, who had an active detainer and criminal arrest order signed by a federal judge, but Philly police let him into the community nonetheless. He had been charged with assault and unlawful restraint/serious bodily injury related to an incident with his estranged wife.
- As part of an enforcement effort across several states, ICE arrested a 52-year-old male citizen of Lithuania, with three criminal convictions for driving under the influence, but was released in February 2017 by Philadelphia Police after refusing to honor an ICE detainer.
- In July 2015, police arrested and charged Winston Enrique Perez Pilarte with attempted rape and indecent assault on a minor. Although ICE’s request that he be held in custody, he was released after posting $25,000 – 10 percent of the $250,000 bail set by a judge. After months of work, ICE managed to locate and arrest him in September 2016.
- Holston Doe, a 42-year old Liberian, illegally entered the U.S. in 2004 and proceeded to commit multiple crimes before his conviction in Delaware County for aggravated assault in August 2017. Despite his criminal conviction and being required to register as a sex offender, Philadelphia refused to honor a second ICE detainer and released Doe back into the community in October. Thankfully, ICE arrested him in December and he is currently awaiting deportation.
In addition to the immeasurable costs to the victims of these preventable crimes, taxpayers are saddled with the financial burden of housing these criminals.
For example, Vasquez is currently serving 8 to 10 years for raping a child and unlawful sexual contact with a minor. According to a 2017 Vera Institute report, the state will spend on an annual basis $42,727 to feed and house him – and every other criminal alien in prison.
For U.S. Attorney McSwain and other immigration enforcement authorities, there is no time for a celebratory dance when battling criminal aliens and the politicians who provide them sanctuary.
4 Comments
How many times are people going to have to see that illegals, even felons convicted of serious crimes, are more important than citizens to sanctuary cities. You have to credit Trump for proposing that immigrants not be given citizenship if they have been using government welfare programs, because it focuses attention on the issue. Now the left is arguing it’s discrimination. But their argument before was how much they “contribute” in things like sales taxes. The fact is that the expenses, including welfare, medical care, schooling and other costs far outweigh the pittance they pay.
Remember when the “socialist” mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico was running her big mouth about Trump because of a supposed lack of government help after Hurricane Maria. Turns out that 10 trailers full of food, water, and medicine were just discovered in a government parking lot and they had been there since the hurricane. There were numerous reports at the time of vast amounts of supplies just sitting in warehouses and truck drivers taking advantage of the situation by going on strike. And all the talk about the electric system ignores the fact that it was in shambles before the storm because of a lack of maintenance.
The leftist “abolish ICE” hero Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been saying Republicans were afraid to debate her. So conservative author Ben Shapiro promised to give her campaign $10,000 if she would debate him. Naturally she chickened out and then played the victim card, claiming his offer was the same as “catcalling” her on the street. Typical. Another big talker too afraid to leave the “safe spaces” of Maddow, Kimmel, Colbert, and all the others.
Illegal immigrants need to pay for illegal immigrants. Tax what they send back to their home countries by 50%. Use this money to pay for victums of their crimes, jail service, and cost of hunting them down. Victums deserve restitution. I pay taxes for stuff i dont want all the time. It is the American way.
Sickening. I don’t know how people like the Mayor of Philadelphia can live with themselves.
We also definitely can’t afford the financial costs of illegal immigration because we are going broke.
For example, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis the US net international investment position as of the end of the first quarter 2018 was -$7.888 trillion, and has been on a downward negative trajectory over recent years.
We were once the world’s largest creditor nation and are now the world’s largest debtor nation.
From Investopedia:
—-“The NIIP position is an important barometer of a nation’s financial condition and creditworthiness. A nation with a positive NIIP is a creditor nation, while a nation with a negative NIIP is a debtor nation. “
—-“A net international investment position (NIIP) is a nation’s stock of foreign assets minus its foreign liabilities. The Net International Investment Position (NIIP) is related to Net Foreign Asset (NFA), which is defined as the value of overseas assets owned by a nation minus the value of domestic assets owned by foreigners.
The NIIP can therefore be regarded as a nation’s balance sheet with the rest of the world at a specific point in time. NIIP includes overseas assets and liabilities held by a nation’s government, the private sector and its citizens. A negative NIIP figure indicates that a nation’s foreign liabilities exceed its foreign assets, while a positive NIIP figure indicates that its foreign assets exceed its liabilities.”
Somebody please give us US citizens a list of crimes we can commit without fear of the consequences? Income tax evasion? Failure to carry car insurance? Welfare fraud?