House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) wrote Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson for information about known criminal alien Eduardo Irhneis Escobar, 25, who was charged with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action for carjacking two women – ages 91 and 63 – at gunpoint on August 16.
Following a high speed pursuit – reportedly up to 90 miles-per-hour –police arrested Escobar when he lost control of the car and crashed into an earthen berm. During the pursuit, he drove into oncoming traffic lanes and collided with at least one vehicle before crashing.
Escobar is an illegal alien from Honduras who’d been convicted for felony assault in 2010 who has repeatedly been encountered by federal immigration authorities.
“Instead of holding Escobar in custody and seeking to remove him from the United States, he was allowed to remain at large and rob and attack two women,” Goodlatte stated.
In his letter to Johnson, Goodlatte asserted DHS “did not take all appropriate actions to ensure the safety and security of the American public,” and called on DHS to provide the House Judiciary Committee Escobar’s full immigration history and encounters with law enforcement.
“The level of apparent violence and callousness exhibited by Escobar toward the helpless victims of this robbery is astonishing,” Goodlatte told Johnson. “Equally astonishing is the fact that Escobar was not in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), despite his illegal presence and a 2010 conviction for felony assault. According to ICE, Escobar ‘has been encountered several times [by ICE] since 2010,’ and he was released from custody on August 8 due to a ‘clerical error.’ Moreover, Escobar falsely claimed to be a derivative United States citizen through his mother, who also falsely claimed to be a United States citizen using a stolen birth certificate and was criminally prosecuted and convicted in 2014 for making the false claim. As such, it would appear that ICE was aware that Escobar was an illegally present, removable alien with a felony assault conviction in 2014, if not before.”
“So,” Goodlatte stressed, “it is incomprehensible that Escobar was not held in ICE custody pending proceedings to seek his removal from the United States. Instead, he was allowed to remain at large and brutally rob and attack these vulnerable victims.”
More recently, 37-year-old illegal alien Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez from Honduras killed two and injured 36 Sunday when he lost control of a bus he was driving transporting Louisiana flood recovery volunteers. He slammed into a fire truck and firefighters who’d responded to an earlier crash.
Louisiana State Trooper Melissa Matey told reporters Rodriguez "is in this country illegally from Honduras. He has no driver’s license.”
In June, Mexican national Bonifacio Oseguera-Gonzalez, 29, who ICE officials confirmed had been deported six times between 2003 and 2013, was charged with killing three and wounding a fourth person at a Marion County, Oregon farmhouse.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform lists scores of similar incidents involving illegal aliens here.
In his letter to Johnson, Goodlatte demanded “the following information no later than September 12, 2016:"
- The alien registration number for Escobar, his complete alien file (A-file), including any temporary files, working files, or Service Center files, and all documents and items contained in them, all reports or notifications generated by DHS or in its possession about him, whether currently in written or electronic form, including, but not limited to, the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Executive Summary, criminal history or immigration summaries, detainers or requests for notification, I-213(s), and Notice(s) to Appear or other charging documents created to seek his removal from the United States.
- Please identify each and every date on which Escobar was encountered by a law enforcement agency in the United States, to include criminal and civil arrests, the nature of the charge, the jurisdiction where the arrest occurred, the disposition of that charge, the date(s) on which he was released from the custody of that law enforcement agency, and the reason(s) for the release. Please provide the arrest and disposition documentation for each encounter.
- How and when did Escobar enter the United States? Was he ever served with a Notice to Appear? Was it filed with an immigration court? Please explain.
- Did Escobar ever apply for any immigration benefits, including deferred action? If so, was any application approved? Please provide copies of any applications that he may have submitted, whether or not adjudicated.
- Has Escobar been removed previously? If so, when?
- Has ICE issued a detainer or request for notification to any entity regarding Escobar? Please explain.
- Has Escobar ever been a member of, or associated with any criminal gang? Please explain.
- Has Escobar ever asserted a claim to US citizenship? For every claim of US citizenship asserted by Escobar, please state the date the claim was made, by whom and to whom it was made, the manner in which it was asserted, and all actions taken by ICE ERO and the Office of Principal Legal Advisor to investigate and determine the validity of such claim.
- If Escobar had been encountered by DHS enforcement officials prior to his latest arrest for robbery, would he have met the requirements to be considered a priority for removal under the Administration’s Priority Enforcement Program? If so, please provide the exact reason for such consideration. If not, why not?
