crime

Unfortunately, the legislation being considered by Congress in response to concerns about overly-long prison sentences for Americans has been crafted to primarily benefit criminal aliens. (Those are not Americans but citizens of other countries who have been imprisoned for committing serious crimes in the U.S.)

That's the conclusion of our legislative affairs team after several weeks of scrutinizing documents and reports, and of meeting with a number of experts on the issue.

NumbersUSA takes no position on issues of sentencing reform for Americans.

But we have to get involved with the current sentencing reform legislation (companion bills S. 2123 and H.R. 3713) because most of the people who would benefit from it would be criminal aliens who would be helped to avoid deportation and to re-enter the job market to the detriment of struggling American workers.

Reports are surfacing in Washington that both chambers of Congress are preparing this spring to pass S. 2123 and H.R. 2713 which were approved by the respective Judiciary Committees last October.

Speaker Paul Ryan has called passing the legislation a priority. (See more on Ryan below.)

As currently written, the legislation would result in the massive release of criminal aliens from federal prisons into the streets. It could alternatively be called the Criminal Alien Prison Release Act of 2016, but that bill title probably wouldn't garner many votes in Congress.

The bills would retroactively reduce the minimum sentencing requirements for all individuals (regardless of their citizenship or immigration status) convicted of certain federal crimes. It would only apply to federal prisons, which comprise 9% of the entire incarcerated population in the United States.

Its impact on reforming sentencing guidelines for U.S. citizens would be minimal.

In a letter sent to Sen. Jeff Sessions last fall, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that 77% of individuals convicted of federal drug possession charges and more than 25% of individuals convicted of federal drug trafficking charges in FY2015 were non-citizens. Since these are the individuals who would most likely be released, you can see our concern with the legislation. Further, there is no requirement in the legislation that Immigration and Customs Enforcement take custody of a criminal alien who is released and remove them from the United States, even when theirconviction by current law should result in their immediate removal under current law.

In October of 2015, the Obama Administration released 6,600 inmates from federal prison after the U.S. Sentencing Commission revised its guidelines. One-third of those released were non-citizens. Shortly before the release, the Center for Immigration Studies uncovered a letter written by 14 immigration-expansionist organizations to the Department of Homeland Security, pleading with the Administration to consider the criminal aliens for prosecutorial discretion under Pres. Obama's 2014 executive actions.

"We urge ICE not to rush to judgment on these immigrants' cases, but instead to commit to ensuring individualized due process in each case. ...

"Each of these immigrants, including those with an "aggravated felony" and those with final removal orders, must be individually assessed for [Prosecutorial Discretion]. The 2014 DHS civil enforcement priorities memorandum specifies that removal of Priority 1 immigrants may be deprioritized if "there are compelling and exceptional factors that clearly indicate the alien is not a threat to national security, border security, or public safety and should not therefore be an enforcement priority."

The full letter can be read here.

Given the Administration's history on interior enforcement, the bills, as written, would allow tens of thousands of deportable criminal aliens to return to the American communities they victimized in the first place. Just last year, the Administration released 90,000 criminal aliens from custody -- roughly 60% of all criminal aliens it came in contact with. In fact, the criminal aliens who were responsible for the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle and the 2014 murders of California Detective Michael Davis, Jr. and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver had been earlier convicted for the same class of federal drug crimes that lawmakers seek to reform through this legislation.

Unfortunately, the provisions of the bills that would result in the release of criminal aliens are central to the efforts of both House and Senate-- and key to the Democrats' support of the bills. Unless the criminal alien issues are addressed, NumbersUSA must call for rejection of the legislation. Sentencing reform efforts should focus on new legislation that isn't a Trojan horse for yet another kind of amnesty.

Local American communities (disproportionately Black and Hispanic) into which released criminal aliens likely would return should not be asked to bear this burden under an Administration that has eviscerated immigration enforcement.

RYAN GETS A PRIMARY CHALLENGER

House Speaker Paul Ryan has learned that he'll face a Republican challenger in the August 9 Wisconsin primary. Not only has Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlan thrown his name into the race, but he's also focusing on the immigration issue hoping to rekindle some of the voter angst that lead to Rep. Dave Brat's upset of former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia in 2014.

Earlier this week, Nehlan completed a NumbersUSA immigration reduction survey and earned our True Reformer status. You can view the grid here.

Ryan has a troubled history on the immigration issue. He's a passionate supporter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would greatly increase the number of foreign workers allowed to work in the U.S. He's also pushed for work permits for illegal aliens and expanding legal immigration.

During Tuesday's GOP Presidential Primaries, Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump combined for 83% of the vote in Ryan's district. Cruz and Trump have immigration positions vastly different from Ryan's. But Nehlan's positions are closer aligned with Cruz and Trump, so we'll be keeping a close eye on this race over the next 5 months.

  Read more about Main result of current prison reform bill likely would be release of criminal aliens into U.S. communities (with no deportations)

EAST BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP, Pa. -  State police say a 38-year-old man may be extradited and deported after he was arrested and charged for a hit-and-run crash in Schuylkill County.

The crash happened back on Feb. 26 along Route 443, about a half-mile east of New Ringgold Borough.

According to police, a Honda Accord and Dodge Dart were traveling westbound when the Accord tried to pass the Dart around a curve in the roadway.

When the Accord went to merge back into the right lane, police say the passenger side of the vehicle struck the front driver side of the Dart.

When both vehicles entered New Ringgold, the Accord fled the scene, turning left and traveling southbound, into a public park.

The driver of the Dart followed the Accord, and was able to photograph the vehicle's license plate with her cell phone.

Police say the Accord then fled the scene without stopping, and took off through New Ringgold.

Two weeks later, early Saturday morning, the Accord was spotted traveling eastbound along Route 443 outside the borough.

A traffic stop was initiated near Schuylkill Road, according to a state police press release.

The description of the driver matched the description that was given by the driver of the Dart in February, and police say the registration was also a match.

The driver of the Accord - identified as 38-year-old Daniel Naploes Herrera - admitted to being the driver involved in the hit-and-run. Herrera told police he fled because he did not have a valid driver's license.

Herrera was taken into custody and transported back to the state police barracks in Frackville where he was fingerprinted.

That's when police discovered Herrera was a wanted person from Oregon, and also illegally entered into the United States as a citizen of Mexico.

Herrera was hit with a number of traffic-related charges, including careless driving and failing to have a valid license. He was arraigned and committed to the Schuylkill County Prison.

State police say a detainer was also placed on Herrera by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department.

Herrera is currently awaiting possible extradition back to Oregon and possible deportation back to Mexico. Read more about Hit-and-run driver facing possible extradition, deportation

WASHINGTON, DC (March 14, 2016) — New information released to the Senate Judiciary Committee quantifies the public safety impact of the Obama administration's lenient approach to immigration enforcement, in which thousands of criminal aliens are allowed to remain at large each year instead of detained and processed for prompt deportation.   Criminal aliens released by ICE between 2010 and 2015 have been charged with 124 new homicides and thousands of other crimes that harm citizens and degrade the quality of life in American communities.

View the report and graphics showing crimes by state: http://cis.org/vaughan/Map-124-criminal-aliens-released-obama-policies-charged-homicide-2010

Contact: Marguerite Telford
202-466-8185, mrt@cis.org

  Read more about Free to Kill: 124 Criminal Aliens Released By Obama Policies Charged with Homicide Since 2010

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Mexican national suspected of killing his neighbor and three other men ... before killing another man about 170 miles away...was arrested...

Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino was captured without resisting...   He had a rifle with him, he said.

Serrano Vitorino is in the country illegally...

He was deported from the U.S. in April 2004 and illegally re-entered the country...

Serrano-Vitorino has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder ...

He was being held Wednesday in a Montgomery County, Missouri, jail on $2 million bond linked to Kansas charges...

Associated Press writer Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this story.
  Read more about Man suspected of killing 5 in Missouri, Kansas captured

Bernardo Tercero was a 20-year-old laborer in the United States illegally when he murdered a Houston high school teacher while robbing a dry cleaner. Though he'd been arrested twice before and thrown out of the country, he kept coming back.

Two months before gunning down a Dallas police officer, Juan Lizcano was arrested for driving drunk. He, too, was in the country illegally. Federal immigration officials apparently were not told of his arrest.

And Juan Carlos Alvarez lived in the country illegally for almost 10 years before participating in two drive-by shootings in Houston that left four people dead. Just four months earlier, an immigration judge had decided to let him stay in the country.

Of the 251 men and women on Texas death row, 12 committed their crimes while in the country illegally, according to an analysis of data obtained by The Texas Tribune. Their crimes span almost three decades and five presidential administrations — two Democrats and three Republicans — and their victims include old and young, children, husbands, wives and parents.

Whether federal immigration officials attempted to remove these 12 men — or knew of their existence — is difficult to discern. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials declined to release immigration records for nine of the 12 inmates, citing a concern for their privacy. It did agree to release records for Tercero, Lizcano and Alvarez.

Reviews of trial transcripts, court records and other documents tell a dozen stories of smaller crimes and missed connections ultimately leading to 18 deaths on Texas soil at the hands of men able to enter the country easily, and stay with little challenge to their presence.

Here, distilled from multiple sources, are the cases: 

Bernardo Tercero

VICTIM: Roger Berger, teacher

DATE: March 31, 1997

“Please don’t die. Please don’t die,” Melinda Winn Berger pleaded with her husband as he lay on the floor of Park Avenue Cleaners in Houston with a bullet in his head.

It was supposed to have been a quick stop before dinner. While his wife stayed in the car, Robert Berger, a 38-year-old English teacher at Reagan High School, ran in with their 3-year-old daughter, Jordan.

It was almost closing time. Bernardo Tercero, brandishing a gun, and an accomplice entered the store and demanded money.The store manager would later testify that Tercero grabbed Berger by the arm and pushed him back, shooting the teacher in the back of the head when he tried to get away.   

Tercero and his accomplice fled with the money from the cash drawers. Melinda Berger rushed inside and found her husband mortally wounded. Robert Berger died in the hospital the next day.

Eventually caught, Tercero argued that the shooting wasn’t premeditated, saying he and Berger were struggling when “the gun went off.”

Tercero, then 20, was a Nicaraguan national who had been arrested twice on theft charges in Harris County in 1994 and 1995, and was caught trying to slip across the border illegally in 1996.It appears he returned voluntarily to Mexico at least once. Otherwise, nothing in his immigration records indicates if federal agencies knew about his theft arrests, or made an effort to remove him from the country.

Juan Lizcano

VICTIM: Brian Jackson, police officer

DATE: November 13, 2005

Brian Jackson, a five-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, was almost done with his shift when he and other officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at the home of Marta Cruz. Her ex-boyfriend showed up at her house drunk and fired a shot into the ceiling. Juan Lizcano accused Cruz of cheating on him and said the next bullet was intended for her.

When police arrived, Lizcano ran, down an alleyway and shot at the officers. The two wound up face to face when Lizcano rounded a corner, and Jackson fired three times. Lizcano fired once and Jackson died. Other officers converging on the scene arrested Lizcano.

It wasn’t his first run-in with police. Lizcano, a then 28-year-old Mexican national, had been arrested for a DWI just two months before. There’s no indication he ever came in contact with federal immigration officials, who released records showing that they had no information on when Lizcano entered the country illegally.

Juan Carlos Alvarez

VICTIMS: Michael Aguirre, Adrian Aguirre, brothers

DATES: June 6, 1998 and June 17, 1998

On June 6, 1998, 21-year-old Juan Carlos Alvarez, a member of the Southwest Cholos, opened fire with an assault rifle on a group of people gathered outside an apartment complex in west Houston. Two brothers, Michael Aguirre, 16, and his brother Adrian, 20, were killed, and six others injured. Alvarez, who records show had planned the drive-by shooting suspected that some of his targets were members of a rival gang, La Primera.

Later that month, Alvarez killed two more young men at an apartment complex in southwest Houston, shooting them at close range in the back and face with a shotgun.

Testimony later revealed that none of the four victims were members of the rival gang.

Immigration officials knew Alvarez, a Mexican national. He had entered the country illegally through Brownsville in 1989. He was served with a notice to appear in court, but it's unclear when exactly that was handed down. He was found not removable from the country and granted relief by an immigration judge on February 5, 1998.

But by that time, Alvarez already had a long record. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in February, received deferred adjudication, and was charged again in May 1996. That's when immigration officials placed a hold on Alvarez only to lift it three months later, county records show.

Two years later, he was charged with engaging in organized crime for conspiring to commit murder, aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Those cases appear to have been dismissed when he was charged and convicted of capital murder for the shootings. Immigration officials issued another hold on Alvarez in June 1998 after the two shootings.

Walter Sorto

VICTIMS: Roxana Capulin and Maria Rangel, restaurant workers

DATE: May 31, 2002

Roxana Capulin and Maria Rangel were supposed to close up for the night after working the late shift at El Mirador restaurant in Houston.

But 30 minutes after she called to say she was headed home, Jesus Capulin’s wife hadn't shown up. No one answered when he called El Mirador.

Alarmed, Jesus Capulin drove the to restaurant in search of his wife, and ran into Maria Rangel’s husband doing the same thing. The men broke into the locked building but found no one inside.

The two women were found dead the next morning in Capulin’s Dodge Durango, which was abandoned a few miles south of the restaurant. Capulin, a 24-year-old mother of two, had duct tape over her eyes and mouth; Rangel, a 38-year-old mother of two, had duct tape over her eyes and mouth, and her wrists were bound with the tape. Each had been raped and shot in the head.

Walter Sorto, an El Salvador native who had lived in the country illegally since 1996, was behind the attack. Though he initially went to police as a witness and blamed his two accomplices, the 24-year-old laborer later implicated himself.

It wasn’t Sorto’s first run-in with police. In June 1999, he had been convicted of carrying a weapon and sentenced to 10 days in Harris County jail. Later that year, he was convicted of misdemeanor theft and sentenced to three days in jail. In late 2000, he was granted deferred adjudication for 10 years for the aggravated robbery of a man in Harris County.

Citing Sorto's privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they were told of his previous arrests and convictions, or had ever attempted to remove him from the country. County records show immigration officials placed a detainer on Sorto in August 2002 a few days after he first contacted police as a witness to the killings.

Ramiro Ibarra

VICTIM: Maria de la Paz Zuniga, teenager

DATE: March 6, 1987

Originally from Mexico, the Zuniga family was living in Waco in March 1987 when Francisco Zuniga headed home to pick up his 16-year-old sister to go shopping. He found Maria de la Paz Zuniga's bruised, bloody and partially undressed body.

Maria Zuniga's face appeared to have been beaten, and her throat and shoulders were wrapped in yellow wire. Her dress was pulled over her waist and her underwear appeared to have been ripped off. A medical examiner would later confirm she died of ligature strangulation caused by the yellow wire.

Witnesses put Ramiro Ibarra, a 32-year old former neighbor, at the scene. DNA samples from Ibarra matched the blood found under Maria’s fingernails and semen left in her body and on her underwear. Police also found similar yellow wire in Ibarra’s car.

Ibarra, a Mexican national living in the country illegally, had previously been convicted for unlawfully carrying a weapon and received probation for driving while intoxicated. He had also been arrested in December 1988 for a misdemeanor theft.

Citing Ibarra's privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they were told of his previous arrests and convictions, or had ever attempted to remove him from the country.

Carlos Manuel Ayestas

VICTIM: Santiaga Paneque, elderly woman

DATE: September 5, 1995

When Elim Paneque returned to his Houston home shortly after noon to have lunch, he found it ransacked and his 67-year-old mother, Santiaga Paneque, dead.

The killer was 26-year-old Carlos Manuel Ayestas, a Honduran national, with a long record. In 1990, he'd been caught in California twice for possessing heroin and cocaine he planned to sell and was put on probation. A year later he was convicted of burglary, and sentenced to two years in jail for the burglary charge and three more for violating probation on the narcotics charge. It is unclear when he was released.

Ayestas apparently traveled back and forth from Honduras several times, and after 1994 re-entered the country illegally. He wound up in Houston where he was arrested for misdemeanor theft in July 1995 and spent 10 days at the Harris County jail.

Two months later, police found Santiaga Paneque lying face down in a pool of her own blood and vomit. Her eyes, neck and ankles were bound by silver duct tape while her wrists were bound with an electrical cord from an alarm clock.

Ayestas' fingerprints were found on a roll of duct tape left on a bathroom counter, and on the tape removed from Paneque’s ankles.

Citing Ayestas' privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they were told of his previous arrests and convictions, or had ever attempted to remove him from the country. County records show immigration officials placed a hold on Ayestas two years after the murder after he was convicted.

Edgardo Cubas

VICTIM: Esmeralda Alvarado, teenager

DATE: January 18, 2002

Esmeralda Alvarado left her boyfriend’s house in Houston’s East End around 9:30 p.m. and headed towards a nearby convenience store to use the pay phone.

That’s where 22-year-old Edgardo Cubas and a male accomplice caught sight of the 15-year-old high school sophomore and forced her into their truck. The men would later claim they meant only to rob Alvarado, but when they realized she had no money, they took turns raping her in the back of their truck and Cubas forced her to perform oral sex on him.

They drove to a secluded road where Cubas pulled Alvarado out of the vehicle and fatally shot her in the head before driving off. A county employee found her partially clad body four days later.

Cubas, an Honduran national who entered the country illegally, confessed to Alvarado’s murder and a series of other offenses — aggravated robberies, shootings, sexual assaults and murders — committed between 2001 and 2002.

Citing Cubas' privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they ever had contact with Cubas, or were aware of his presence in the country. County records show immigration officials placed a detainer on Cubas in August 2002 after he was arrested and charged for Alvarado’s murder.

Hector Medina

VICTIMS: Javier and Diana Medina, children

DATE: March 4, 2007

Three years. Eight months. Those were the ages of Hector Medina’s two children, Javier and Diana, were when he shot them with a .25 caliber pistol.

Irving police responding to a call of shots fired found 27-year-old El Salvador native Hector Medina lying in his front yard with a self-inflicted neck wound. Inside, they found Diana dead in a wooden crib. Javier, who had been shot in the head and neck, was brain dead at the time.

Medina’s legal team argued that the murders were fueled by the infidelity of his girlfriend, the children’s mother. It took a Dallas County jury about six minutes to convict Medina of capital murder.

Citing Medina's privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they ever had contact with Medina, or were aware of his presence in the country.

Victor Saldañ

VICTIM: Paul Ray King, computer salesman

DATE: November 25, 1995

It was completely random.

Paul Ray King, a 46-year-old computer salesman,was in the parking lot of a Plano grocery store when Victor Saldaño and an accomplice forced King into their car at gunpoint. They drove to a secluded road near Tickey Creek where Saldano stopped the car and forced King into the woods.

Saldaño, a 23-year-old Argentine national living in the country illegally, would later tell a jailer he shot King four times, then got closer to fire once more into King's head to ensure he was dead.

He stole King’s wallet and watch, drove the car back into town and abandoned it on the side of the highway.

Citing Saldaño's privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they ever had contact with him, or were aware of his presence in the country.

Gilmar Guevara

VICTIMS: Tae Youk and Gerardo Yaxon, convenience store clerks

DATE: June 2, 2000

“Shoot, shoot, shoot” Gilmar Guevara's accomplices urged as they robbed a Houston convenience store.

Two attendants, Tae Youk, 50, and Gerardo Yaxon, 21, were working the late shift when an armed Guevara and two other men entered the store just after midnight. Guevara said they were there to burglarize the store. When one of the store attendants hit him, Guevara started shooting, killing both men.

Youk was a former pastor who had worked at the convenience store for only a few months to help support his family. Yaxon was working to send money back to family in Guatemala and save up enough to return.

Guevara, 30 years old at the time and originally from El Salvador, was living in the country illegally and had a long criminal history. In 1994, he was granted deferred adjudication for a misdemeanor theft charge in Harris County. Months later, he was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon. In December 1994, he was sentenced to 20 days in jail for the unlawful use of a criminal instrument. That same month, he was charged with the unauthorized use of a vehicle.

In 1995, he was charged with auto theft, and federal immigration officials issued a detainer for Guevara, meaning he presumably would be turned over to them for deportation after completing his nine-month sentence in the Harris County Jail.

Whether he was removed from the country is unknown. Citing Guevara's' privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they deported Guevara, or knew of his previous arrests and convictions.

Obel Cruz-Garcia

VICTIM: Angelo Garcia Jr., child

DATE: September 30, 1992

During a late night home invasion, two men wearing ski masks broke into a south Houston apartment where Angelo Garcia Jr. lived with his mother and her boyfriend.

Obel Cruz-Garcia was among the men who proceeded to sexually assault Garcia’s mother and tie, gag and beat her boyfriend. They took the 6-year-old boy with them when they left. Cruz-Garcia and his accomplices stabbed the boy and weighted down his body before dropping him into a Baytown lake.

Angelo Garcia’s murder wasn’t the first time Cruz-Garcia had come in contact with police. He had been previously charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon in 1990 when he was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

In 1991, he was charged with possession of crack cocaine. Evidence gathered later would show that the boy's parents were part of Cruz-Garcia’s cocaine-trafficking operation. Cruz-Garcia, originally from the Dominican Republic, was charged with Angelo Garcia’s death in 2008 but wasn’t convicted until 2013.

Citing Cruz-Garcia's privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they were told of his previous arrests and convictions, or had ever attempted to remove him from the country. County records show immigration officials placed a detainer on Cruz-Garcia in 2010 — two years after he was charged with capital murder.

Felix Rocha

VICTIM: Rafael Fuentes, security guard

DATE: November 26, 1994

On the night he was murdered, Rafael Fuentes was working as a security guard at a Houston nightclub.

Felix Rocha and an accomplice approached Fuentes and tried to take the gun from his holster. The security guard resisted, and the men struggled over Rocha’s gun before a shot went off.

Witnesses placed Rocha and his accomplice at the scene. Rocha — who had been involved in a physical confrontation with Fuentes shortly before the murder — later confessed.

Rocha, a Mexican national living in the country illegally, had been previously charged with aggravated robbery in 1993, but the charges were dismissed. In 1995, he was charged with possession of marijuana and served four days in jail. Later that year, he was charged for assault.

Citing Rocha's privacy, immigration officials declined to release records that would show whether they were told of his previous arrests and convictions, or had ever attempted to remove him from the country. County records show immigration officials placed a detainer on Rocha in November 1997 after he was charged with capital murder; that hold was lifted the day he was placed on death row. Read more about Twelve Texas death row inmates were undocumented

ONTARIO — A Payette man was arrested on charges of attempted murder and assault in the second degree Saturday for allegedly stabbing an escaped inmate from Canyon County Jail.

According to Ontario Police Department’s Sgt. Rick Esplin, David Tellez, of Payette, was arrested Saturday morning after an anonymous tip led them to find a man who escaped the Canyon County Jail with stab wounds.

Jose Esteban Coronado, who escaped a Canyon County Jail tent Jan. 30, was arrested Saturday morning ...

Esplin said Coronado had several stab wounds on his body when they found him. He was transported to Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario for treatment before being booked into Malheur County Jail where he is currently waiting to be transferred back to Canyon County. Coronado, who authorities say cut through the exterior wall of a tent housing unit and escaped a week ago, now faces a felony escape charge. He had been jailed for violating a no contact order and a U.S. immigration detainer.

Further investigation led officers to process the scene of the stabbing, which took place Friday at an apartment complex on Northwest Fifth Street in Ontario; it also led to the arrest of David Tellez,...

This is not the first time Tellez has had run-ins with the law.

In 2009 he was arrested on charges of aggravated battery, following an altercation near the Minute Market in Payette that ended in the stabbing of a New Plymouth man.

While awaiting trial for those charges, Tellez was arrested again on several charges...

Esplin said they do not yet know the connection between Tellez and Coronado or the motivation for the stabbing.

The Ontario Police Department was assisted by the U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force and the Oregon State Police.

The Associated Press contributed to this article. Read more about 2 men in custody

Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) interview with Meet The Press host Chuck Todd— in which he pledged to allow illegal aliens remain in the U.S.— has received widespread attention.

However, while Politico oxymoronically titled its article Rubio: Law-Abiding Undocumented Immigrants Could Stay,” perhaps the most striking part of Rubio’s interview was his indication that criminal aliens would be allowed to remain in the United States as well.

Rubio’s Sunday statement in support of criminal aliens is consistent with some of the most controversial aspects of his Gang of Eight bill, which would have allowed convicted criminal aliens— such as sex offenders and gang members— to remain in United States and become U.S. citizens.

Rubio seems to have adopted President Obama’s open borders talking point that only “felons, not families” should be deported. In the exchange, Chuck Todd asked Rubio specifically how he defines the “criminal aliens” who would not be allowed to remain in the country under Rubio’s amnesty.

TODD: Let me ask you by the way quickly on the 11 million, are you still for finding a way for them to legally stay in the United States?

RUBIO: Yeah, look. If you’re a criminal alien, no, you can’t stay. If you’re someone that hasn’t been here for a very long time, you can’t stay.

TODD: Wait a minute. Define criminal alien–

RUBIO: I do believe we have to have a reasonable solution–

TODD: De– define criminal alien. Isn’t anybody who’s here–

RUBIO: A felon. A felon–

TODD: Okay, so not– ’cause some people argue–

RUBIO: Well I know some people have said that before but I believe–

TODD: Okay, all right–

MARCO RUBIO: –the opposite. But– no, but I’ve said that before, Todd. That’s been convinced. I mean, a felon, someone who’s committed a crime, a non-immigration-related– and that’s what I’ve talked about in the past.

Indeed, Sen. Rubio is correct in that this is exactly the position he has articulated in the past: i.e. a broad amnesty for illegal immigrants including those who have committed criminal offenses.

Rubio’s use of the word “felon” means that not only would illegal aliens with criminal misdemeanor convictions be allowed to stay, but presumably also means that those suspected or accused of felonies, but not convicted— i.e. are not yet actually felons— would be allowed to remain as well.

Moreover, Rubio’s declaration that the felony be a “non-immigration-related” crime presumably means that even people who commit immigration felonies—such as repeat illegal re-entry— or those who committed immigration crimes related to document fraud could stay as well.

The principle Rubio is espousing—i.e. the notion that illegal entry is not in and of itself a deportable offense— wipes away the protections U.S. immigration laws are supposed to afford Americans citizens...

Under Rubio’s vision, millions of people could presumably illegally take jobs, petition for government services, fill U.S. schools, receive affirmative action, alter the country culturally, socially and politically, and be involved in substantial criminal activity so long as they don’t get don’t get caught, tried and convicted for a non-immigration related felony.

This principle is a central pillar of the open borders philosophy, which desires the free, uninhibited movement of labor across international boundaries.

Rubio’s amnesty for illegal aliens involved in criminal activity is consistent with the text of the Gang of Eight bill. As border sheriffs and representatives for ICE and USCIS officers explained in a 2013 letter to members of Congress: Section 2101 of Rubio’s immigration bill “explicitly opens this legal status to those with long criminal records, gang affiliations, felony arrests, and those with multiple misdemeanor criminal convictions…

As the Washington Examiner’s Byron York explained more recently in his piece entitled, “The immigration system Rubio wanted”.

The legislation forbade the legalization of immigrants who had been convicted of a felony or of three or more misdemeanors. But there were some big exceptions.

First, if breaking the immigration laws was an “essential element” of any criminal conviction, it wouldn’t count. Second, the bill said the three misdemeanors that could disqualify an immigrant would count as three misdemeanors only “if the alien was convicted on different dates...

In theory, this would mean– consistent with the text of the Gang of Eight bill– that a child sex offender who has been in the country for, say, twenty years—could not be deported until the government obtained a successful conviction, which could involve an elaborate and costly sting operation, enormous court expenses, translator costs, and a successful guilty verdict.

As Breitbart News has previously explained, it is difficult to obtain a guilty conviction for criminal felons— especially those who are a part of the illegal immigrant community.

According to a report from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, less than half (48.9 percent) of violent felony arrests in New York City result in conviction and sentence. Nationally, less than 2 in 3 murder cases result in the suspect even being arrested, let alone convicted. According to police data analyzed by the Washington Post, in Washington D.C. only 1 in 3 homicides results in a conviction.

Experts have suggested that low crime-to-conviction rates are even more exaggerated amongst immigrant communities—and in particular, the illegal immigrant population. As acclaimed Manhattan Institute scholar Heather Mac Donald has noted, “In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.” This suggests that illegal aliens who are found, arrested and convicted of a felony only represents a fraction of illegal aliens who evaded conviction..."

As one GOP aide told Breitbart News, “The deportation of a convicted criminal alien is not a success story but means immigration laws were enforced much too late. The purpose of immigration law is to protect Americans before, not after, they or a loved one have been robbed, assaulted or killed… We should not have to wait until an innocent American has been victimized to afford them the protection of their immigration laws; aliens do not have a right to operate illegally in the United States until some kind of additional conviction has been obtained.”

Populist thought leader Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has previously explained the position articulated by Sen. Rubio will result in only more American mothers being forced to bury their children:

No parent should ever have to bury a child because we failed to keep violent criminals out of the country or failed to deport them once they were in the country. Protecting the lives of innocent Americans is one of the most basic duties of the federal government. Our goal should be to keep 100% of dangerous aliens out of the United States. There is no delicate balancing act here: we need to remove potentially violent offenders before they hurt innocent families—before the irreversible occurs...

Indeed, as Don Rosenberg– whose 25-year-old son, Andrew, was repeatedly run over by an illegal alien as he sought to flee the scene of the crime– has explained, many illegal immigrants have been caught for previous crimes prior to their murdering American citizens. In a 2014 letter to President Obama, Rosenberg wrote:

Roberto Galo had been caught driving without a license shortly before he killed my son but his car was impounded for 18 hours (state law requires 30 days) and then the charges were dropped… Glenn Vierra was killed by Jorge Valencia-Figueroa who had been caught driving without a license four times before killing Vierra. He was never considered a threat to public safety even after he killed Vierra as he was only charged with a misdemeanor.

Similarly, illegal alien Olga Franco, who was responsible for a 2008 school bus crash near Cottonwood, Minnesota that resulted in the death for four school children, was driving without a license and had been accused of using stolen social security numbers— an “immigration-related” crime that would seem to be excused under Rubio’s amnesty. Franco had been pulled over a month prior to the accident, but was not deported. Under Rubio’s amnesty vision, Franco– who prior to killing four Americans was not a felon– would presumably be allowed to stay, as would countless others like her. As the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported at the time:

One mother said she missed the sound of her little girl playing piano. Another said her surviving daughters used to play ‘wedding’ with their dolls; now they play ‘funeral.’ Both said the Feb. 19 school bus crash that killed four children and injured 16 others near Cottonwood also killed an innocence that will never return… Franco, 24, was convicted in August of four counts of criminal vehicular homicide and 17 counts of criminal vehicular injury in the crash that killed 9-year-old Hunter and 13-year-old Jesse Javens, Emilee Olson, 9, and Reed Stevens, 12. To the end, the illegal immigrant from Guatemala claimed her boyfriend was driving the minivan that ran a stop sign and broadsided the Lakeview School District bus on Minnesota 23. The boyfriend, Francisco Sangabriel-Mendoza, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant, has since fled to his native Mexico, authorities say… During the 2 1/2-hour hearing, families of the children killed in the crash addressed Franco, detailing their suffering in the following months… Franco sat, unmoving, next to her attorney during the eight victim statements. She listened to a Spanish interpretation through headphones.

In a Congressional hearing dedicated to the families who lost loved ones thanks to illegal aliens, Laura Wilkerson testified that lawmakers ought to defend the interests of their American constituents— not illegal aliens. Wilkerson’s 18 year-old son Joshua was murdered by his illegal classmate Hermilo Moralez. Moralez is likely to have qualified for amnesty under Rubio’s plan to legalize illegal immigrants who allegedly came to the country as minors. Sen. Rubio continues to support amnesty for so-called DREAMers—even going so far as saying that a President Rubio would not “immediately revoke” President Obama’s unconstitutional 2012 executive amnesty. Wilkerson told members of Congress:

You cannot you cannot stand by and ignore our families — our American families. You’re elected by Americans, not any other country. You should be for Americans.

In contrast to Rubio’s support for allowing illegal criminal aliens to remain the country, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he would deport aliens unlawfully residing in the United States.

Wilkerson said that she was grateful for the attention Donald Trump’s to families like hers and his desire to promote the needs of American citizens above foreign nationals who have violated our immigration laws:

I thank you, Mr. Trump for getting a message out about the nation… that countless families like my own have been trying to say for five to six years. It feels good to be heard.

When Breitbart News spoke to Wilkerson and asked if Sen. Rubio had ever reached out to her, she said, “No, and I don’t think [he] ever will. We’re on the opposite spectrum of their agenda.
  Read more about RUBIO: CRIMINAL ALIENS CAN STAY IN U.S.

Back in 2007, a 19-year-old man was accused of taking an 11-year-old girl, who he called his 'girlfriend,' to Mexico. Ever since, Keizer police officials have been working to have him stand trial in Oregon.

After eight-and-a-half years of investigation, Raul Xalamihua-Espindola, now 28, has been extradited to the United States. He's facing four counts of first-degree rape, one count of first-degree custodial interference and one count of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in Marion County Circuit Court.

The investigation began on April 6, 2007 when the Keizer Police Department received a report that an 11-year-old girl left a note for her parents saying she ran away with her boyfriend, identified by police as Xalamihua-Espindola.

The note said not to worry about the girl's well-being, but it didn't match her handwriting, according to an affidavit filed in August 2007.

Her mother had last seen her the day before.

The girl's friends told police she had a boyfriend name "Raul." Police determined a man of that name lived in the same apartment complex as the victim. Residents of the apartment listed as his address said he hadn't been there since April 5, according to court records.

Cell phone records showed that the suspect's phone had been used outside of Oregon following the girl's disappearance. The National Center For Missing & Exploited Children created a flier that was given to law enforcement agencies along the US-Mexican border.

The suspect's brother-in-law told police he spoke to the victim on the phone April 8. He told the suspect police were looking for the girl. The suspect replied he would return her within two hours, but did not, according to court records.

Within five days of the girl's disappearance, Xalamihua-Espindola was indicted on the custodial interference charge. On May 1, 2007, investigators confirmed both Xalamihua-Espindol and the girl were in Zongolica, Vera Cruz, Mexico, according to a press release.

Special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation began working with the Mexican government to recover the victim and apprehend Xalamihua-Espindol.

On Aug. 13, 2007, Judge Tracy Pall granted the Marion County District Attorney's Office motion to give Keizer Police Department and the FBI temporary custody to retrieve the girl. Although the girl's parents were legally residing in the United States, their immigration status did not allow them to leave the country and legally return, according to court records.

Although the child was a Mexican national and didn't have a passport, then-Deputy District Attorney Courtland Geyer wrote in an affidavit that it appeared "responsible federal authorities" would authorize her return.

On Sept. 4, 2007, the victim was safely recovered. On Sept. 18, a Keizer police officer and FBI agent flew to Mexico City to take her into protective custody. She returned home to Keizer that same day, officials said.

Xalamihua-Espindol eluded capture until about two years ago.

Since then, Xalamihua-Espindola, a Mexican citizen, has been incarcerated in a Mexican prison while appeals were being litigated regarding his extradition to the United States to stand trial.

On Dec. 15, 2015, Xalamihua-Espindola was taken from Portland International Airport to the Keizer Police Department. He was interviewed and then taken to the Marion County jail.

He was arraigned before Senior Judge Rita Batz Cobb Dec. 16. He's being held without bail and is scheduled to appear before Judge Donald Abar at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 29 at the Marion County Circuit Court Annex, 4000 Aumsville Highway SE.

Throughout the course of the investigation, the following agencies worked together: Keizer Police Department, Mexican government, U.S. Department of Justice, the Portland office of the U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI, The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Marion County District Attorney's Office and Port of Portland Police Department. Read more about Man accused of taking 11-year-old 'girlfriend' to Mexico is extradited to U.S.