FIRST ON FOX: A conservative group is suing the Department of Homeland Security as part of an effort to get what it says is "maximum transparency" about the agency's handling of criminal illegal immigrants during the Biden administration.
The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) is suing DHS for records it requested in October during the Biden administration about the release of data on noncitizens on Immigration and Customs Enforcement's non-detained docket with criminal backgrounds.
The data, released to lawmakers in September, stated that there were 425,431 convicted criminals on ICE's non-detained docket, and an additional 222,141 with pending criminal charges.
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Those include 62,231 convicted of assault, 14,301 convicted of burglary, 56,533 with drug convictions and 13,099 convicted of homicide. An additional 2,521 have kidnapping convictions, and 15,811 have sexual assault convictions.
There were an additional 1,845 with pending homicide charges, 42,915 with assault charges, 3,266 with burglary charges and 4,250 with assault charges.
At the time, the Biden DHS said the data was being misinterpreted, noting it goes back decades, and includes those who are not only free but also those who are incarcerated by federal, state or local authorities but who are not in ICE custody.
CASA requested internal communications and records from ICE and Customs and Border Protection related to the data and the release of the data, including meeting requests, call logs and communications with media outlets. It requested the documents via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
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The group did not receive a response and so has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia to compel compliance from the agency.
"Through DHS's failure to make a determination within the time period required by law, CASA has constructively exhausted its administrative remedies and seeks immediate judicial review," the lawsuit says.
"The American people deserve maximum transparency regarding the government's handling of all illegal aliens, but particularly about those aliens with serious criminal convictions," CASA director James Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital.
"This lawsuit will force DHS to provide records and communications related to the release of these illegal alien criminals into communities throughout the country," he said.
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It is unclear how DHS under the Trump administration will handle the request, given the administration's significantly different attitude to the release of illegal immigrants. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has largely stopped the release of migrants into the U.S., in part due to President Trump's order declaring a national emergency at the southern border. That, in turn, has meant that migrants can be removed without being offered the ability to claim asylum.
In addition, the administration has launched a mass deportation campaign and has been making significant steps to not only conduct arrests, but also to house illegal immigrants without releasing them and to increase the rate of deportations.
Fox News Digital reported last week that the arrests of illegal immigrants have skyrocketed in the first weeks of the Trump administration compared to the same period last year under former President Biden.
