By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor The Department of Homeland Security released so-called 'criminal aliens' – people living in the U.S. illegally who have been convicted of crimes – at a record pace in 2013. Internal DHS documents obtained by the right-leaning Center for Immigration Studies show that last year the agency's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division encountered 722,000 potentially deportable illegal immigrants, but charged just 195,000 with immigration violations. And 68,000 of those who were released back in to the U.S. population already had criminal convictions that would warrant their expulsion from the country. But President Barack Obama's preferred policy has favored 'prosecutorial discretion,' giving ICE broad authority to pick and choose which aliens to keep and which to cut loose.
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The Department of Homeland Security is letting illegal immigrants go in record numbers, including those already convicted of serious crimes
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A man accused of raping a child in his own family was released, apparently because of a policy of 'discretion' when suspects are child caregivers
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Another man facing vehicular homicide charges walked away because Chicago's county jail officials refused to let the feds interview him
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According to a new report, just 195,000 out of 722,000 illegal immigrants encountered by ICE were charged with immigration violations in 2013
Most of those criminal aliens found themselves in @placeholder's holding cells after local authorities jailed them pending trial for unrelated offenses.
According to @placeholder, more than 870,000 illegal immigrants are on lists ordering their deportation, but have defied authorities by becoming fugitives.