On Wednesday, the major broadcast networks failed to cover in their evening newscasts the admission from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that federal officials released roughly 30,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records in 2014 while announcing steps attempting to stop the issue.
According to The Washington Times, ICE claimed on Wednesday that “it had little discretion over most of the criminals it released” and remains a problem that ICE Director Sarah Saldaña said “still concerns me.”
While the networks were out to lunch on this story involving dangerous criminals, the Fox News Channel’s Special Report devoted 21-seconds to the following news brief from host Bret Baier:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is announcing enhanced oversight and release procedures for individuals with criminal records. ICE says it released almost 31,000 illegal immigrants with convictions in 2014, down about 5,500 from the year before but, it is a number that, quote, “concerns” ICE Director Sarah Saldaña.
Here’s more from the Times article:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that handles detention and removal of illegal immigrants, said it will no longer allow overcrowding to be the main reason a dangerous illegal immigrant is released, and will require a top supervisor to approve the cases of any serious criminals that officers want to release.
(....)
ICE said it had little discretion over most of the criminals it released. The agency said that under a previous court decision, immigrants whose home countries won't take them back cannot be held indefinitely, so they have to be released after a period of time.
Republicans in Congress have proposed rewriting the law to allow for longer detention of serious criminals, and they have called on the Obama administration to use existing powers to deny visas to leaders of countries that refuse to take their citizens back.
But the administration has declined to take those steps.
Those released from custody are generally supposed to be monitored, and Ms. Saldana vowed to stiffen those procedures to try to ensure those that are released are not able to commit new crimes.
ICE didn't release a breakdown of criminal offenses of the new 30,000 on Wednesday, but among the 36,000 released in 2013 were 193 homicide convictions, 426 sexual assault convictions, 303 kidnapping convictions and 16,070 convictions for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
As for examples of what the networks found time for instead, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir and the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley spent a combined 35 seconds on respective briefs noting that President Obama filled out his bracket for the men’s NCAA basketball tournament in an interview with ESPN.
In addition, ABC reserved a whopping three minutes and 41 seconds for four teases and one segment previewing Diane Sawyer’s upcoming special on the Sound of Music that will air on the network late Wednesday night.
The transcript of the brief that aired on FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on March 18 is transcribed below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
March 18, 2015
6:18 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: 31K Immigrants with Convictions Released]
BRET BAIER: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is announcing enhanced oversight and release procedures for individuals with criminal records. ICE says it released almost 31,000 illegal immigrants with convictions in 2014, down about 5,500 from the year before but, it is a number that, quote, “concerns” ICE Director Sarah Saldaña.
