Removing criminal illegal aliens from American streets

There's a dark side to the issue of illegal immigration other than the economic impact of supporting citizens of other countries who entered the U.S.

A day doesn't go by when we hear another case where an illegal alien commits a horrific crime against a U.S. citizen.

There is a movement in Congress to remove more criminal illegal aliens from American streets.

Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Pitts, R-16th District, is a co-sponsor of legislation that would sanction countries that refuse to repatriate criminals who have finished serving out their jail sentence here in the United States.

"The Accountability in Immigrant Repatriation Act, H.R. 5761, would improve our immigration enforcement system by sanctioning countries that refuse to repatriate criminals and those under a final order of removal," Pitts said in a statement released Friday.

The bill would require reports to Congress every 90 days on the countries that inhibit repatriation, Pitts says. Receipt of the report would automatically trigger denial of foreign aid as well as suspension of visa issuances to the listed countries, he added. The President would be given the option of coming to Congress to request a waiver for the sanctions if doing so is deemed to be in our national interests, Pitts says.

"Individuals who are here in the United States illegally and have committed crimes have no business on our streets," Pitts said. "We should be using the full extent of our diplomatic options in order to get these people out of the United States and back to their home country."

How big is the problem?

As of February 2008, eight countries were refusing to repatriate a total of 139,000 aliens, according to Congressional estimates. More than 18,000 of them are convicted criminals who have been released back onto American streets.

According to Pitts:

Under current law, these countries have no incentive to accept their criminal aliens and U.S. courts have ruled that our government cannot legally hold such individuals in custody for longer than six months following their sentences of imprisonment, Pitts said.

As a result, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have no choice but to release criminal aliens in the U.S.

In one example, the U.S. government spent $197,680 to fly a criminal alien convicted of assault back to his home country of Somalia, only to be denied repatriation and ultimately released back onto our streets.