Questions Who is Calling Shots at Justice Department; Mexico or U.S.

Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) criticized Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in a letter to the Justice Department in the wake of media reports yesterday that the U.S. Marshals raided the Hawaii home of Duane “Dog” Chapman at the direction of the Mexican government.  

A spokeswoman for the Marshals Office confirmed yesterday that an arrest warrant was signed Wednesday by a federal magistrate in Hawaii at the urging of the administration.  Chapman could now be extradited to to face criminal charges for successfully capturing Max Factor heir Andrew Luster in Puerto Vallarta in 2003. Luster, who was wanted in the for rape is now serving a 124-year sentence.

“This Administration routinely tells Congress that they cannot secure our borders and immigration system due to a lack of resources.  We are told that the U.S. Attorneys offices in Border States are simply overwhelmed with cases and cannot prosecute all the violations – even serious ones,” said Tancredo.

“Somehow this administration has plenty of time to track down a Mexican drug smuggler and give him immunity so he can testify against our Border Patrol agents,” said Tancredo referring to the prosecution of two Border Patrol agents facing 20 years in prison for wounding a Mexican smuggler during the course of their normal duties earlier this year.

“Americans are apparently supposed to happily accept presence the roughly 100,000 criminal aliens inside our borders – a number that is growing every year – while the Marshals use their resources to track down ‘Dog’ Chapman on orders from a foreign master for successfully brining a convicted rapist to justice.”

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the real problem with this administrations inability to address the failures of U.S. border security policy is not so much a lack of resources as it is one of misplaced priorities,” concluded Tancredo, “I’m beginning to wonder who is in charge of prioritizing assignments at DOJ.  Is it this administration – or the one in Mexico City ?”

The full text of Tancredo’s letter can be found here.                                                                                                                                   

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