Washington, D.C. (January 23, 2023) –The Center for Immigration Studies broke the story this weekend  that a 17-year-old illegal alien and MS-13 gang member arrested in Maryland for the murder of an autistic woman was released into the United States as an Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC). Congress and the media should be asking Biden administration officials running the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for a full accounting of how and why this UAC was released into the country and how many other dangerous individuals have been released under the Biden catch-and-release policies.

The UAC suspect allegedly strangled his victim to death, only months after being released into the United States. He is also facing rape and robbery charges.

Jon Feere, the Center’s Director of Investigations and a former ICE Chief of Staff, asks:

• To what extent did the Biden administration’s decision to exempt UACs from Title 42 play a role in this individual entering the United States?
• Was any background check conducted on the UAC, and if so, what did it reveal?
• At what point did the Executive Branch learn that this individual was connected to MS-13, and was he released into the United States despite evidence of his affiliation?
• Was the UAC handed off to a sponsor in the United States? If so, who is the sponsor, did the sponsor undergo a background check, and what did that background check reveal?
• Is the sponsor in the United States illegally?
• Shouldn’t Congress bar illegal aliens from sponsoring UACs?
• Did the UAC apply for a Special Immigrant Juvenile green card?
• Has he attended any court proceedings?
• Has he failed to abide by the terms of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program?

The UAC sponsorship process is severely broken, as was revealed in a bipartisan Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs report in 2016, “Protecting Unaccompanied Alien Children from Trafficking and Other Abuses: The Role of the Office of Refugee Resettlement”.

“The Biden administration continues to threaten public safety with its lawless, open-border policies and Congress must immediately require DHS to secure the border and deport the millions of illegal aliens that have entered the United States through fraud and misrepresentation,” says Mr. Feere. “The media must also demand that the Biden administration stop with its anti-transparency agenda and start providing full immigration histories on demand.”