Massachusetts case draws concern of immigrant groups, senator
WASHINGTON – National groups pushing for tighter immigration policies are criticizing the Department of Homeland Security for letting two men suspected of illegally entering the United States out of their grasp, months before they were arrested in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on charges of raping a woman in a park.
The case is also beginning to capture the attention of Congress. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Friday, citing stories about the case in The Eagle-Tribune and seeking more information about the suspects.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Immigration and Border Security subcommittee, also criticized the handling of the two.
“This is yet another tragic consequence of our reckless immigration system. Both the current state of the law and the Obama administration’s failure to enforce the law have allowed for these horrific events to occur,” Gowdy said in a statement. “It is time this administration begin enforcing our immigration laws to ensure we protect the public safety of our citizens.”
Changes under President Barack Obama’s administration in how people are targeted for deportation may have played a role, according to two groups, the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies.
Their criticism comes amid a highly charged national debate over immigration policy, and days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed reforms.
Meanwhile two government agencies – U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – have refused to publicly explain what they did after border agents came into contact with Juan Carlos Cela-Tacuri and Agualema Guasco, both believed to be from Ecuador, in 2015 and 2016.
Guasco had already been removed from the United States in 2013.
An ICE spokesman, Shawn Neudauer, has acknowledged that Border Patrol agents “encountered” Guasco in April. However, he has refused to describe the circumstances of that encounter.
For reasons not being made public, Guasco, 41, was free four months after that encounter – despite the fact he’d been deported once previously.
On the evening of Aug. 12, a woman with her shirt partially torn told police she’d met Cela-Tacuri and Guasco at a convenience store. They drove her to the park, dragged her into the woods, punched her in the face and tried to rape her, according to police.
Neudauer referred questions about what Border Patrol agents did upon encountering Guasco last April to that agency.
But two Border Patrol spokespeople over the past week declined to comment and referred questions about what its agents did to ICE, despite being told of what the other agency had said.
Both ICE and Border Patrol fall within the purview of Homeland Security. Both agencies refused to say if they’d detained the former deportee in April or just let him go.
Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said a 2014 policy change by Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary, may have played a role in what happened.
Johnson prioritized certain people who’d illegally immigrated to the United States for detainment and investigation – including those who had committed felonies, serious misdemeanors or three or more misdemeanors, as well as gang members and suspected terrorists.
The new rules also prioritized unauthorized immigrants who entered or re-entered the United States after Jan. 1, 2014.
In a report about the new policies, the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute quoted a memo by Johnson describing the effort as distinguishing between new arrivals and others, and also as de-emphasizing going after people who’d been in the country for several years.
Previously the government focused on those who entered or re-entered the United States after 2007.
As a result of the shift, the Migration Policy Institute estimated 13 percent of those who illegally immigrated were a priority for the government. Before the changes, 27 percent were considered priorities.
The study estimated 25,000 fewer people would be deported as a result.
It’s unclear when Guasco re-entered the country between 2013 and his encounter with border agents in April – or if he had a criminal history.
However, under the new policy, “he may not have been considered a priority based on a prior removal” that occurred before Jan. 1, 2014, said Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.
Mehlman agreed that Guasco may have slipped through as a result of the changed policy.
“This case provides an example of how the Obama administration is essentially nullifying immigration laws under the guise of setting priorities,” he said.
“Had the Border Patrol been allowed to do its job, it is likely the subsequent violent felony would never have been committed,” he said, referring to the alleged rape.
Mehlman also criticized the idea of de-emphasizing some who’ve immigrated illegally compared to others.
“Entering the country illegally is, in itself, sufficient grounds for removal,” he said.
The Obama administration’s policies, he said, represent “a dramatic departure from how every other law enforcement agency in the country operates.
“Going after people who run traffic lights is clearly not as high a priority for local police as is catching violent criminals,” he said. “But that does not mean that a local cop who sees you run a red light won’t pull you over and enforce the law, just because it is not as high a priority as catching a violent felon. Nobody suggests that the local police wait until you run down a pedestrian before they enforce traffic laws.”
Sen. Grassley, in his letter to Johnson, asked how Guasco and Cela-Tacuri were prioritized under the 2014 policy.
Border agents, meanwhile, encountered Cela-Tacuri in February 2015, and gave him a notice to appear before in immigration court. Neither ICE nor Border Patrol spokespeople would discuss whether he was detained or simply let go and told to show up for court.
However, court records show he was 17 at the time. The ICE spokesman said he had no criminal history. Cela-Tacuri is now 19.
“The problem with the way this case was handled is that he should have been turned back at the border using expedited removal. Then he wouldn’t be here now,” Vaughan said.
Faye Hipsman, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute who focuses on deportation issues, was unfamiliar with the details of the case. But she said the government’s long-standing policy distinguishes between unaccompanied minors suspected of coming to the United States illegally from Mexico, versus those from other countries.
Mexican minors can be deported after being screened to see if they are a victim of human trafficking, she said.
Under a 2008 law signed by President George W. Bush, minors from other countries are held up to 72 hours, during which time they are screened to see if they qualify for political asylum.
Hipsman said the Department of Health and Human Services would then try to place the youth with a family member in the United States.
The 2008 law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, requires children be placed “in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interests of the child,” according to a report by the American Immigration Council.
“Children are a vulnerable population, so the idea was to protect them and don’t put them in punitive settings,” said Hipsman, when asked why children are not detained until an immigration court hearing.
Detaining them also would be “incredibly expensive,” she said.
However, she said, “there isn’t a follow-up mechanism” in case children don’t appear in court, but instead disappear.
“Because the population is not viewed as an enforcement priority, they’re not going to be the subject” of efforts to catch them, she said.
Kery Murakami is the Washington, D.C. reporter for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at kmurakami@cnhi.com.