A Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was dedicated to the families who lost loved ones at the hands of illegal aliens. Chairman Charles Grassley invited the victims of criminal alien violence to testify, while Democrats invited rebuttal witnesses who argued that Americans should continue shielding illegal inmates from deportation in order to better “integrate” illegal aliens into our lives.
One of Grassley’s witnesses was Jim Steinle, the father of Kate Steinle, the young women recently murdered in San Francisco, allegedly at the hands of a repeatedly deported criminal alien. Steinle told Congress that the last words he heard from his daughter Kate were, “Help me, Dad” after she was shot down by the alien who should never have been in the country in the first place.
Katherine’s mother, who could be seen quietly sobbing from the audience, watched as her husband described their daughter:
Kate was beautiful, kind, happy, caring, loving and deep in faith. Kate had a special soul, a kind and giving heart, the most contagious laugh, and a smile that would light up a room. Kate loved to travel, spend time with her friends, and most of all spend time with her family. In fact, the day she was killed, we were walking arm in arm on Pier 14 In San Francisco, enjoying a wonderful day together. Suddenly a shot rang out, Kate fell, and looked at me and said “Help me, Dad.” Those are the last words I will ever hear from my daughter.
Kate’s father continued, “Everywhere Kate went throughout the world, she shined the light of a good citizen from the United States of America. Unfortunately, due to unjointed laws and basic incompetence on many levels, the US has suffered a self-inflicted wound in the murder of our daughter by the hand of a person that should have never been on the streets in this country.”
Steinle called on Congress to act to ensure no other American dies at the hand of a foreign national illegally in the country:
Our family realizes the complexities of immigration laws, however, we feel strongly that some legislation should be discussed, enacted or changed to take these undocumented immigrant felons off our streets for good. We would be proud to see Kate’s name associated with some of this new legislation. We feel that if Kate’s Law saves 1 daughter, 1 son, a mother or a father, Kate’s death won’t be in vain.
A 2011 government report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), tallies nearly 3 million arrest offenses attached to the incarcerated criminal alien population. Of these offenses, half a million were drug related, 70,000 were sexual offenses, 213,000 were for assault, 125,000 were for larceny/theft, and 25,000 were for homicides.
Yet, while the families call for action, Senate Republicans warn about a new program from the Administration to release even more criminal aliens.
Sen. Sessions, Chairman of the Senate’s Immigration Subcommittee, led Judiciary Republican members in a letter blasting the Obama Administration’s new “Priority Enforcement Plan” (PEP). Sessions said upon the letter’s release:
By defining its “priorities” to exclude large categories of illegal immigrants, including those who have already been ordered deported or those who illegally reenter after having been deported, PEP ensures that countless more dangerous aliens will be released into U.S. communities—allowing otherwise entirely preventable crimes, including some of the most violent and egregious, to occur. Immigration enforcement is not supposed to be a game of Russian roulette where we release habitual immigration violators into U.S. communities and hope and pray they don’t go on to commit additional criminal offenses.
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