The Prince William Board of County Supervisors sued the Department of Homeland Security for records on the agencySSRqs handling of an illegal immigrant who was released by federal officials and later charged with drunken driving in a car crash that killed a nun. County officials argue that Homeland Security is unlawfully withholding records the Board of Supervisors requested about Carlos Martinelly-Montano, who Prince William County police turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement almost two years ago, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday.
ICE released Martinelly-Montano back into the community while he awaited his deportation hearing. He was charged in August 2010 with drunken driving in a fatal crash that killed one nun and left two others injured. He had two previous drunken-driving convictions.
At the time, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered an investigation into the case in to discover why Martinelly-Montano was never deported.
The Board of Supervisors filed a Freedom of Information Act request in November 2010 for copies of the investigation report and any other documents concerning the department’s contact with him. DHS has failed to hand over the documents or indicate that the records are exempt from the request, according to county officials, and the board grew frustrated after trying for months to cooperate with DHS.
Chairman Corey Stewart called the lawsuit the “last resort,” and said the board was led to believe the agency would turn over the records, only to be told at the last minute that the documents were unavailable to the public.
Stewart said he felt stonewalled by the federal government, “and it makes you suspicious about why it is they’re so desperate to keep these documents secret. There must be something tremendously embarrassing to DHS that they clearly don’t want to reveal to the public or Prince William County,” he said.
DHS officials did not respond for comment.SClBPrince William County police have turned over more than 3,000 criminal illegal immigrants to ICE through the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to enforce some federal immigration laws, since county officials adopted the policy in 2007.
“Not only is it an issue for the Board of Supervisors, but for our own police department,” Stewart said. “They’re also frustrated that they can’t get this information. We want to know, for police reasons, why it is and how it is that they are releasing clearly dangerous illegal aliens back into the streets and not deporting them.”
The board also has asked Congress to investigate Homeland Security’s handling of all its immigration records. Stewart has met with officials from the U.S. House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees, and said he hopes they will agree to conduct the investigation.
