House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) pressed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson for answers about two criminal aliens charged with sexually assaulting children.
His demand for details in this case follows numerous demands he’s made in recent months for information on criminal acts by illegal aliens who were never deported despite their repeated criminal acts in the US after repeatedly being deported, as Homeland Security Today has reported.
Goodlatte has repeatedly asked Johnson to explain the administration’s lax enforcement of the immigration laws that allow criminal aliens to victimize Americans. According to Goodlatte, DHS has been unresponsive to the committee’s numerous requests in recent months.
Goodlatte told Homeland Security Today Friday afternoon, "President Obama’s lax enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws even for the most violent criminals has needlessly endangered American communities.”
He stressed, “The House Judiciary Committee has conscientiously exercised its oversight authority over these policies and their impact on public safety, including instances when hardened criminal aliens commit crimes against Americans. While this oversight should be a nonpartisan, commonsense effort to root out problems and provide effective solutions to misguided policies that enable criminals to continue to victimize innocent Americans, sadly the Obama administration has often stonewalled orsignificantly delayed answering the committee’s requests for information. The next administration, whether Republican or Democratic, must comply with the committee’s requests in a timely manner and be transparent with Congress and the American people."
In his most recent request to Johnson, Goodlatte wrote, “Last month, Tomas Martinez-Maldonado, an unlawful, criminal alien from Mexico, was arrested and charged with raping a 12-year-old girl on a bus in Kansas. Federal officials have stated that Martinez-Maldonado has been removed from the United States ten times since 2010 and has a felony conviction for illegal reentry after removal. Edis Moya Alas, an unlawful immigrant from El Salvador, was arrested earlier this month and charged with kidnapping a 6-year-old girl from her home in Fort Worth, Texas and raping her. Alas was reportedly arrested in Fort Worth on drug charges approximately two years ago yet was not placed in removal proceedings.
In his letter to Johnson, Goodlatte called on the DHS secretary to provide information about Martinez-Maldonado and Alas’ immigration and criminal histories so that the committee is able to determine whether DHS took all reasonable and appropriate actions within its immigration enforcement authority to ensure the safety and protection of Americans.
Goodlatte wrote Johnson, “Yet, again, I must write to you to request information about criminal aliens whose unlawful presence in the United States has enabled them to allegedly perpetrate heinous crimes—this time involving two reported child rapists. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that Tomas Martinez-Maldonado is an unlawfully present citizen of Mexico, who has been removed from the United States ten times since 2010. He was arrested and charged with raping a 12-year-old girl on a bus in Kansas on or about September 27. Media reports indicate that Edis Moya Alas is a citizen of El Salvador and, according to ICE, he is unlawfully present in the United States. He was arrested on October 8 and charged with Aggravated Sexual Assault and Aggravated Kidnapping after reportedly abducting a 6-year-old girl from her home in Fort Worth, Texas and raping her. She was found by police after a local resident reported hearing her screams from a nearby wooded area.”
“Both of these alleged child predators were previously encountered by law enforcement agencies in the United States,” Goodlatte stressed, “ICE has confirmed that Martinez-Maldonado has been removed to Mexico ten times during the last six years and has a 2013 felony conviction for illegal reentry after removal. Alas was reportedly arrested in Fort Worth on drug charges approximately two years ago. After their respective arrests on the criminal charges, it would appear that both men should have been encountered and detained by ICE and placed in removal proceedings.”
“It is important for this committee to understand why these criminal aliens remained at large at the time of these alleged offenses and to determine whether the Department of Homeland Security took all reasonable and appropriate actions within its immigration enforcement authority to ensure the safety and protection of these vulnerable victims,” Goodlatte told the DHS secretary.
In recent months, as Homeland Security Today has reported, Goodlatte has raised the following issues with DHS:
- Earlier this month, demanded Secretary Johnson provide information about Nelash Mohamed Das, a citizen of Bangladesh and a lawful permanent resident of the United States arrested by the FBI and charged with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization by conspiring to murder a US military member in Prince George’s County, Maryland on behalf of ISIS.
- Last month, Goodlatte and Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the DHS secretary and Secretary of State John Kerry why criminal gang member, Thong Vang, who shot and critically injured two correctional officers on September 3, wasn’t deported from the US more than two years ago after serving 16 years in prison for raping three girls under the age of 14, and instead was released because his native country of Laos refused to accept him.
