Keep Yourself Informed!
FROM THE DESK OF THE AP..... NOT YOUR MEDIA THAT
PICKS AND CHOSE'S WHAT TO SHOW.
WASHINGTON
— U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez employed as an unpaid intern in his Senate office
an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender, now under arrest by
immigration authorities, The Associated Press has learned. The Homeland
Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after
Election Day, a U.S. official involved in the case told the AP.
Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, an 18-year-old immigrant from Peru, was arrested
by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in front of his home in New
Jersey on Dec. 6, two federal officials said. Sanchez, who entered the country
on a now-expired visitor visa from Peru, is facing deportation and remains in
custody. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to discuss details of Sanchez's immigration case.
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond
to a request for further details.
Menendez, D-N.J., who advocates aggressively for pro-immigration policies, was
re-elected in November with 58 percent of the vote. Congressional staffers who
work for Menendez were notified about Sanchez's case shortly after the arrest.
Sanchez told ICE agents that he worked on immigration issues for the senator. A
spokesman for Menendez said she was looking into the matter.
Online jail records did not indicate whether Sanchez has an attorney.
Immigration officials there were relaying a request from the AP to speak with
Sanchez in jail.
The prosecutor's office in Hudson County, N.J., said Sanchez was found to have
violated the law in 2010 and subsequently required to register as a sex
offender. The exact charge was unclear because Sanchez was prosecuted as a
juvenile and those court records are not publicly accessible. The prosecutor's
office confirmed to AP that Sanchez registered as a sex offender, although his
name does not appear on the public registry.
Authorities in Hudson County notified ICE agents in early October that they
suspected Sanchez was an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender
and who may be eligible to be deported. ICE agents in New Jersey notified
superiors at the Homeland Security Department because they considered it a
potentially high profile arrest, and DHS instructed them not to arrest Sanchez
until after the November election, one U.S. official told the AP. ICE officials
complained that the delay was inappropriate, but DHS directed them several
times not to act, the official said.
It was not immediately clear why federal immigration authorities would not have
been notified sooner about Sanchez's status.
During discussions about when and where to arrest Sanchez, the U.S. reviewed
Sanchez's application for permission to stay in the country as part of
President Barack Obama's policy to allow up to 1.7 million young illegal
immigrants avoid deportation and get permission to work for up to two years. As
a sex offender, he would not have been eligible. U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services, which oversees the program known as Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, notified Sanchez of that shortly before his arrest, one
official said.
During the final weeks of President
George W. Bush's administration, ICE was criticized for delaying the arrest of
President Barack Obama's aunt, who had ignored an immigration judge's order to
leave the country several years earlier after her asylum claim was denied. She
subsequently won the right to stay in the United States after an earlier
deportation order, and there was no evidence of involvement by the White House.
In that case, the Homeland Security Department had
imposed an unusual directive days before the 2008 election requiring high-level
approval before federal agents nationwide could arrest fugitive immigrants
including Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama’s late father. The
directive from ICE expressed concerns about “negative media congressional
interest,” according to a copy of that directive obtained by AP. The department
lifted the immigration order weeks later.
As a side note, it has been stated that ICE
"categorecially denies" what the Associated Press has reported.
Firstly, categorecially means 'flatly, unconditionally.' Me thinks you protest
too much. When someone or a something (ICE) "categorically denies'
anything it is usually true. Secondly, having worked in Public Affairs for a
number of years, The Associated Press does not 'get things wrong,' they would
not stay in business as a reputable news source if they 'got it wrong' too
often. Please notice I say stay in business.
Do your research folks. People of power are putting a
pretty bow, and sweet smelling cologne on crap, feeding it to you hook, line,
and sinker. And, unfortunately, at least 53% of our American citizens are buying it, without doing the hard research. Sound bites do not qualify as fact. Let me repeat: Sound bites do not qualify as fact.
