This week, the American people learned that a twice-convicted illegal alien felon from Haiti, Kesler Dufrene, went on a murder spree, killing three people in Florida. The murders occurred just two months after Dufrene finished his sentence and was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE released him in spite of an immigration judge having previously ordered him to be removed from the country upon completing his sentence. He escaped deportation due to an order issued by President Obama ceasing all deportations to Haiti following the earthquake in 2010 (tens of thousands of Haitians living in the U.S. are currently protected by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that was granted after the earthquake; however, Dufrene was not eligible for TPS because he was a convicted felon). Rather than accept responsibility, DHS is falsely claiming that their hands were tied by U.S. Supreme Court decisions that left them no choice but to put Dufrene back onto the streets of Florida.
The Supreme Court decisions DHS cited as its excuse for allowing Dufrene to remain in the country prevent indefinite detention of people whose deportation is not “reasonably foreseeable.” However, it is not the law that prevented Dufrene’s deportation, but rather DHS’s own decision not to deport anyone, including criminals, to Haiti. In other words, the only reason he could not be deported in a “reasonably foreseeable” timeframe is because DHS is choosing not deport anyone any time soon. Simply put, it was not the Supreme Court that allowed the release of this twice-convicted felon- it was the Administration’s policy choice.