S. Hrg. 103-493 CRIMINAL AUENS IN THE UNITED STATES Y 4, G 74/9: S. HRG. 103-493 Crlninal Aliens in the United State.. HEARINGS BEFORE THE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 10 AND 16, 1993 Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs ^tmttmtm m 2 8 m^ "'''^^^cnmm^nj^^ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 74-148ot WASHINGTON : 1994 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice.Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-0A4U8-X S. Hrg. 103-493 CRIMINAL AUENS IN THE UNITED STATES Y 4. G 74/9: S. HRG. 103-493 Crinlnal Aliens in the United State.. HEARINGS BEFORE THE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 10 AND 16, 1993 Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs WtA m 2 8 m^ -^''^s«ai7cnew«373ipir U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 74-148oe WASHINGTON : 1994 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-0441A8-X COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS JOHN GLENN, Ohio, Chairman SAM NUNN, Georgia WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware CARL LEVIN, Michigan TED STEVENS, Alaska JIM SASSER, Tennessee WILLIAM S. COHEN, Maine DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut JOHN McCAIN, Arizona DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii ROBERT F. BENNETT. Utah BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota Leonard Weiss, StaffDirector Franklin G. Polk, Minority StaffDirector and ChiefCounsel Michal Sue Prosser, ChiefClerk PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS SAM NUNN, Georgia, Chairman JOHN GLENN, Ohio, Vice Chairman CARL LEVIN, Michigan WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware JIM SASSER, Tennessee TED STEVENS, Alaska DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas WILLLVM S. COHEN, Maine JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota JOHN McCAIN, Arizona Eleanore Hill, ChiefCounsel Daniel F. Rinzei, ChiefCounsel to the Minority Mary D. Robertson, ChiefClerk (II) CONTENTS openingstatements: Pag« SenatorNunn 1 SenatorRoth 2,39 SenatorCohen 40 WITNESSES Wednesday, November 10, 1993 Wm. Leighton Lord, III, Staff Counsel to the Minority, Permanent Sub- committee on Investigations; accompanied by Stephen H. Levin, StaffCoun- sel totheMinority, PermanentSubcommittee on Investigations 4 RichardWellington Simons, CriminalAlien 30 Donovan Ellis, CriminalAlien 31 Luis UmbertoVerdugo, CriminalAlien 31 Thursday, November 16, 1993 Doris M. Meissner, Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service; accompanied by John Shaw, Assistant Commissioner for Investigation and Gil Kleinknecht, Associate CommissionerforEnforcement 42 Judge Jere Armstrong, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, Executive Office ofImmigration Review; accompanied by Judge Thomas Fong, Immigration Judge, LosAngeles, CA 62 Alphabetical List of Witnesses Armstrong, JudgeJere: Testimony 62 Prepared Statement 64 Ellis, Donovan: Testimony 31 Lord, Wm. Leighton II: Testimony 4 Meissner, Doris M.: Testimony 42 Prepared Statement 44 Simons, RichardWellington: Testimony 30 Verdugo, Luis Umberto: Testimony 31 APPENDIX Page Prepared statement ofSenator Cohen 71 Exhibits 1. Chartprepared bythe Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) entitled. Combined Federal/State Alien Prisoners and Cost in 1990 73 2. Chart prepared by PSI entitled. Aliens in Bureau of Prisons Custody 74 3. Chart prepared by PSI entitled. Criminal Aliens: Deportation Process Simplified 75 4. Chart prepared by PSI entitled. Corrections: Estimated Deportable CriminalAliens 76 (III) IV Page 5. Chart prepared by PSI entitled, Criminal Aliens Ordered Deported Since FY89 who have notbeen removed 77 6. Chartprepared by PSI entitled, UndetainedAliens 78 7. Declaration ofJose Carmen Encamacion (Spanish with English trans- 79 lation) 8. Statementforthe Record ofManuel Salmeron Catalan 83 9. FBI Identification records for Manuel Salmeron-Catalan, Oscar Jiron, Jose Delcarmen-Encamacion, Rick Willington Simons, Donovan Ellis andVerdugo-Org. (SEALED) * 10. Alien Files for Manuel Sahneron-Catalan, Donovan Ellis, Rick Willington Simons, Jose Luis Ayala, Jose Delcarmen-Encamacion and Verdugo-Org(SEALED) * 11. Chart prepared by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), entitled, Parties and Steps Involved in Deportation Procedures, Insti- tutionalHearingProgram 84 12. Chartprepared by INS, entitled, Parties and Steps Involved in Deporta- tion Procedures 85 13. Ordinances, resolutions, orders and legislation regarding local non-co- operation with the INS: a. San Francisco (1989 Ordinance, amended 1993); b. Oakland (1986 Resolution); c. Sacramento (1985 Resolution); d. LosAngeles (1987 LAPD Manual); e. Chicago (1989 Executive Order, policy since 1984); f. NewYork City (1989 ExecutiveOrder); g. Chapter 88, Sec. 53069.75, California Government Code, October 4, 1993 * 14. Opinion of Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, California and Greg- ory L. Gonot, Deputy Attorney General, dated November 2, 1992 regarding whether a city may prohibit its officers and employees from cooperatingin theirofficial capacities * 15. Memorandum to Mike Lempres, Special Assistant to the Attorney Gen- eral from Raymond M. Momboise, dated July 26, 1989. (SEALED) * 16. Letter to Wm. Leighton Lord from Jim Dorcy, FAIR, dated October 6, 1993, regardingcriminal aliens. (SEALED) * 17. Letter to Daniel F. Rinzel from Shiela Anthony, dated October 22, 1993, enclosing statistical information on cases received and com- pleted by EOIRsince 1988 * 18. Letter from Cois Byrd, Sheriff, Riverside County, CA., to Senator Roth, dated October 26, 1993, attaching a recap ofhomicide cases wherein the subject is eitherknown orbelievedtohave fled to Mexico * 19. Fax from Jacqueline Oliver, INS, New York, to Peter Nacci, dated October 20, 1993, re: statistics on criminal aliens * 20. Fax from—INS New York dated November 2, 1993 regarding Criminal Aliens JFKOperation * 21. Letterfrom MargaretTaylor, DOJ, EOIR, to PeterNacci, dated Septem- ber 13, 1992, enclosing a report entitled. Overview ofCriminal Alien Program * 22. TenWanted CriminalAliens, U.S. INS, March 1993 86 23. The Criminal Alien, March 1993, by California State Legislature, Joint Committee on Prisons, Construction and Operations, Sacramento, California * 24. Immigration Act of 1990, Report on Criminal Aliens, dated April, 1992 bythe INS * 25. Criminal Aliens in the Los Angeles County Jail Population Final Re- port, November 1990,Ad Hoc Subcommittee on CriminalAliens * 26. Report entitled, "Criminal Aliens", Assessment and Response, Immigra- tion andNaturalization Service, Investigations Division, FY89 * 27. The Institutional Hearing Program (IHP) at R.J. Donovan, Prepared by INS (undated) * 28. San Diego County Detention Facilities, Report#11, (undated) * 29. Immigration related (re-entry after deportation) Prosecutorial Guide- lines for U.S. Attorneys in California, New York, New Mexico and Texas with summary prepared by PSI. (SEALED) * 30. Impact ofRepeat Arrests ofDeportable Criminal Aliens in Los Angeles County. Final Report, July 15, 1992, Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Crimi- nalAliens * Page 31. Commerce News, September 23, 1993, "Census Bureau finds significant demographic differences amongimmigrantgroups" * 32. Printout of aliens convicted for reentry after deportation (fi-om May 1, 1991 to October 7, 1993) * 33. 1991 StatisticalYearbookofthe INS. (Undated) * 34. Statistics for non-U.S. Citizens incarcerated in Federal Bureau ofPris- ons facilitiesApril 29, 1993 and related materials * 35. Letter from Howard R. Young, Classification Administrator, to William Leighton Lord, dated September 21, 1993, with attachments regard- ing: Delaware Department ofCorrection, Bureau ofPrisons, Informa- tion on Alien Prisoners and prisoners bom outside the United States * 36. MOU between FDC Oakdale, Louisiana, INS, BOP and other documents related to Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, Louisiana, including: Census/Quarters/County ofbirth for week ofOctober 4, 1993; Crimi- nal Alien Program, Projected Releases, October through November 1993 and January through March 1994; Number of INS Removes, Jamaican and Nigerian; Number of bail bonds, Jamaican and Nige- rian; Numbers ofinmates transferred to FCI Oakdale, Louisiana for the criminal alien program which remain there; Criminal Alien Pro- gram, arrival ofparticipants by projected release date; CriminalAlien Program, aliens by country of birth; and Criminal alien program releases * 37. Historical Corrections Statistics in the United States, 1850-1984. By Margaret Weiner Cahalan, Westat, Inc., U.S. Department ofJustice, Bureau ofJustice Statistics, December, 1986 * 38. U.S. Government Memorandum, Federal Bureau of Prison, from Ike Eichenlaub, Office of Research and Evaluation, to Peter Nacci, detailee to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, regarding Non-U.S. Citizens in the Custody of BOP, dated October 21, 1993. * 39. Detention and Deportation Program, Report prepared by the Immigra- tion and Naturalization Service, datedAugust 19, 1993 * 40. Results, National Institute of Corrections Survey of State Corrections Departments, January 1992, NIC Information Center, Boulder Colo- rado * 41. Institutional HearingProgram Cases in LosAngeles CoimtyJail, March 14, 1994 * 42. Additional questions for the record, U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommit- tee on Investigations hearing on Criminal Aliens, sent to Judges Armstrongand Fong, with answers 87 43. Additional questions for the record, U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommit- tee on Investigations hearing on Criminal Aliens, sent to Doris M. Meissner, with answers 94 'RetainedinthefilesoftheSubcommittee. CRIMINAL ALIENS IN THE UNITED STATES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1993 U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Governmental Affairs, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:04 a.m., in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Sam Nunn, Chair- man ofthe Subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Nunn and Roth. Staff Present: Eleanore J. Hill, Chief Counsel; Mary D. Robert- son, Chief Clerk; Harold B. Lippman, Investigator; Cynthia Com- stock. Executive Assistant to Chief Counsel; Daniel F. Rinzel, Mi- nority Chief Counsel; Stephen H. Levin, Minority Counsel; W. Leighton Lord III, Minority Counsel; SaUie B. Cribbs, Minority Ex- ecutive Assistant to Chief Counsel; Carla J. Martin, Minority As- sistant Chief Clerk; Peter Nacci, (Detailee, Bureau of Prisons); Gene Richardson, Investigator (Detailee, AID); Paul Feeney (Sen- ator McCain); Missy Edwards (Senator Cochran); and Sean Parkin (Senator Bennett). OPENmO STATEMENT OF SENATOR NUNN Chairman Nunn. The Subcommittee will come to order. This morning, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations turns its attention to the area of immigration issues, and more specifically problems occurring in connection with one of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's more important but little known pro- grams, the Alien Criminal Apprehensions Program. Estabhshed in 1986, the Alien Criminal Apprehensions Program is supposed to identify, locate, and initiate removal proceedings agEiinst criminal aliens, ensure their expeditious removal, and act as an effective deterrent against aliens seeking entry into the U.S. to engage in criminal activity. For many Americans, as well as those of us here in Congress, immigration policy and illegal aliens have long been a matter of interest and concern. However, while there has been much debate on these two related issues, there has been surprisingly little attention focused on the subject of today's hearings, criminal aliens. Simply put, criminal aliens are non-citizens who have committed crimes in our country. Criminal aliens, for example, are widely seen as having been and continuing to be a significant part of the Nation's drug problem. Problems involving criminal aliens also came to our attention in a vivid way in 1987 in the aftermath of the notorious Cuban Mariel boat lift. (1) Prompted by longstanding problems indicated in these incidents and the questions they pose regarding our Government's ability to deal effectively with criminal aliens, the Subcommittee's ranking minority member, Senator Bill Roth, initiated an investigation of the Alien Criminal Apprehensions Program this past June. Since that time, the minority staffhave been examining INS' overall per- formance in administering this program, with special emphasis on three key areas: their efforts to identify and keep track of criminal aliens, the process by which they are found to be deportable, and the actions needed to effectuate their deportation. The result of the minority's work in this regard is the focus of today's hearings and another scheduled hearing, I believe, next week, November 16th. In today's hearings, we will hear first from the minority staff who will summarize their findings to date and, in so doing, raise some significant questions about the INS' ability to effectively administer its criminal alien program responsibilities. Following them will be a panel of criminEil aliens who will provide testimony about their experiences under this program. Let me add at this point that we expect to hear from INS rep- resentatives in next week's hearings, at which time they will have an opportunity to present their views on this program's operations. In closing, I want to commend Senator Roth and his staff for their fine work in preparing these hearings. They are indeed most timely, since they simultaneously touch on two major issues ofpub- lic concern: the ever-increasing amount ofcrime in our country and the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of our Government's immigration policies and programs. Accordingly, Senator Roth, I look forward to the testimony to be presented by you and your staffon this impor- tant subject. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROTH Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As you have pointed out, the Sub- committee begins hearings on a problem which lies at the cross- roads of two major areas—of concern currently facing the American people and the Congress crime and the effective control ofour Na- tion's borders. Criminal aliens, the subject ofthese hearings, reside at the dangerous intersection ofthese two problems. In 1992, this Subcommittee conducted an investigation of Asian organized crime. In that investigation we found that for some inter- national Asian crime sjoidicates alien smuggling is often more prof- itable and far less risky than drug smuggling. These criminal orga- nizations would charge each alien up to $30,000, reaping huge prof- its. Yet, even if the smugglers were caught, they would typically face only 3 or 4 months injail, hardly a deterrent to such profitable ventures. In directing that investigation, I became aware that we had a growing problem with criminal aliens. However, I did not imagine the problems were as bad as we have found them to be. The roots of the problem are widespread with the need for change at all lev- els. For example, our Federal deportation laws for criminal aliens set out an irrational, lengthy, complex process far beyond what is due already convicted criminals. In addition, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the agency, of course, responsible for enforcing the immigration laws