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Police chief weighs in on alleged illegal immigrant charged with killing nun
Dear Assistant Secretary Morton
This letter is a follow up to discussions with your staff and is intended to officially express my concerns regarding the DHS policy that allows the issuance of an Employment Authorization Card to illegal aliens who are pending deportation proceedings. I ask that this glaring gap in DHS policy be ended.
On Aug. 1, 2010, three Catholic nuns were on their way to a church retreat in Prince William County when their vehicle was struck head-on by a car operated by an alleged drunk driver. One of the nuns was killed instantly and the other two were critically injured in the crash. Investigation revealed the driver had been convicted twice of driving under the influence (DUI) within the last three years. Furthermore, he was an illegal alien who had been smuggled into the country as a child.
During his incarceration for DUI (second) in October 2008, ICE was appropriately informed of his illegal presence and an immigration detainer was issued. Subsequent investigation discovered, among other concerns, that DHS issued him an Employment Authorization Card (EAC) on Jan. 14, 2009, just months after being placed in deportation proceedings for his second DUI offense. To further complicate matters, he later used the EAC to show legal presence in order to obtain a Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) identification card. This coming after he had used an EAC issued in 2007 to demonstrate legal presence to obtain a Virginia driver’s license.
I have been in contact with Virginia authorities regarding the concern that Virginia DMV documents issued based on EACs under these circumstances is very misleading. This can result in criminal aliens being inappropriately released when being processed by law enforcement authorities.
In final analysis, the practice of issuing Employment Authorization Cards to individuals who have been entered into deportation proceedings for criminal conduct must be reconsidered and corrected.
Charlie T. Deane
Chief of Police
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