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Subscribe to RSSNew Jersey U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez talks to NewsNation's Tamron Hall about his knowledge of the situation surrounding the arrest of an unpaid intern working for him.
Sen. Robert Menendez confirmed to msnbc TV’s Tamron Hall on NewsNation on Wednesday an AP report that an unpaid intern working in his office had been arrested by immigration authorities for being in the country illegally. The Associated Press reported that the 18-year-old from Peru was also a registered sex offender.
The Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after Election Day, a U.S. official involved in the case told the AP. Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, told Hall he knew nothing about that allegation and did not learn of the arrest until just before appearing on msnbc Tuesday. He said his staff learned of the arrest Monday.
Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in front of his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6, two federal officials told the AP. Sanchez, who entered the country on a now-expired visitor visa from Peru, is facing deportation and remains in custody, the officials told the AP. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of Sanchez's immigration case.
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to an AP request for further details.
Menendez, who advocates aggressively for pro-immigration policies, was re-elected in November with 58 percent of the vote. Sanchez told ICE agents that he worked on immigration issues for the senator, according to AP. A spokesman for Menendez told the AP she was looking into the matter.
Online jail records did not indicate whether Sanchez has an attorney. Immigration officials there were relaying a request from the AP to speak with Sanchez in jail.
The prosecutor's office in Hudson County, N.J., said Sanchez was found to have violated the law in 2010 and subsequently required to register as a sex offender, the AP reported. The exact charge was unclear because Sanchez was prosecuted as a juvenile and those court records are not publicly accessible. The prosecutor's office confirmed to AP that Sanchez registered as a sex offender, although his name does not appear on the public registry.
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Authorities in Hudson County notified ICE agents in early October that they suspected Sanchez was an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender and who may be eligible to be deported, according to the AP. ICE agents in New Jersey notified superiors at the Homeland Security Department because they considered it a potentially high profile arrest, and DHS instructed them not to arrest Sanchez until after the November election, one U.S. official told the AP. ICE officials complained that the delay was inappropriate, but DHS directed them several times not to act, the official told the AP.
It was not immediately clear why federal immigration authorities would not have been notified sooner about Sanchez's status.
During discussions about when and where to arrest Sanchez, the U.S. reviewed Sanchez's application for permission to stay in the country as part of President Barack Obama's policy to allow up to 1.7 million young illegal immigrants avoid deportation and get permission to work for up to two years. As a sex offender, he would not have been eligible. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, notified Sanchez of that shortly before his arrest, one official said.
During the final weeks of President George W. Bush's administration, ICE was criticized for delaying the arrest of President Barack Obama's aunt, who had ignored an immigration judge's order to leave the country several years earlier after her asylum claim was denied. She subsequently won the right to stay in the United States after an earlier deportation order, and there was no evidence of involvement by the White House.
In that case, the Homeland Security Department had imposed an unusual directive days before the 2008 election requiring high-level approval before federal agents nationwide could arrest fugitive immigrants including Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father, according to the AP. The directive from ICE expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest," according to a copy of that directive obtained by AP. The department lifted the immigration order weeks later.
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Leave a Comment:
And the government hide this fact by order of Obama until after the election.
You have not a single shred of proof to substantiate your statement. Absolutely none. Your maniacal obsessions are quite revealing.
Jim-- The proof is the report itself-- did you read the story on which you are posting? Which other aspects of it do you disregard and/or reject?
The Illegal alien bit does not really bother me - but the Sex Offender bit really bothers me. And the Callous attitude the left is cultivating is not acceptable to this nation, nor the ideals which the Democratic party was built on.
"The Illegal alien bit does not really bother me."
Really? What OTHER laws are you OK with people ignoring? See, this is how this is supposed to work - we're not supposed to be able to pick and choose which laws we are going to obey - and that includes elected officials. The government also doesn't get to choose which laws to enforce - but Obama and his merry band of goons do so ALL the time.
It depends on the nature of the sex offense. As Sanchez was a juvenile, it could have been for having sex with his girlfriend, or peeing in the park when he couldn't find an open restroom.
The Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after Election Day, a U.S. official involved in the case told the AP.
Wow. So let's leave a registered sex offender on the streets for the sake of elections?
His staff knew a whole day before him of this? Sorry I just can't believe that.
Arent there charges the "honorable" senator should be facing?
Yes, homeland security is above the law and dictates election outcome as a result. The federal judge backing homeland security should be whipped when it comes to this sort of protocol of law. Why whipped? Because we don't have enought of brilliant judges, and sending one to jail defeat the purpose for job as judge.
You both could save yourself a lot of writing if you simply posted. "I HATE OBAMA!" Either way, the message is the same.
Jimbo, I don't see any of that in these comments, but if I did, I would say it's justified. What are you, one of the rare Texan bleeding heart libs?
Jim,
Are you a troll?
I would have written the same thing if it was a Republican senator.
Now for something I bet you didn't know jackass. The Senator was up for re election this year and holding this up until after elections might have been about his own race. Did you ever think of that? Noooooo.
You think it has to be about Obama.
Idiot.
Typical liberal politician.....
loooks like like spanish gringo blood can't separate old world ties to elected usa job. Next, you get catholic priest using the public office furniture to do a "downlow" on little boys.
This sloppy or corrupt behavior by Menendez is why you should never vote in a politician who has an agenda for one specific group. It is a public servants duty to put Americans first not foreign governments or peoples. There is more to this than is reported here.
You just can't hold people in government to the same standards as everyone else. Government just attracts those kinds of people.
One more reason to distrust either the honesty of competence of politicians, like we needed one.
Strip this "senator" of his USA citizenship and deport him to Mexico.
Assuming he actually IS a USA citizen, that is.
We'll get right on that, Bro ~ ~ right after the next election.
Mr. Obama's "most transparent administration" strikes again.
Imagine that - More "wait until after the election" policies to benefit King Hussein. Nope, no problem here. And of course King Hussein will deny any and all knowledge. Just can't make this stuff up.
You actually think Obama gets involved with the immigration status of a senator's unpaid intern?
Way, way out there.
Hey, 'baggers -- have you read the Constitution? There is a such thing as separation of powers. The President has absolutely no power or influence over what goes on in Congress -- the House or the Senate. If he did, why are we having this "fiscal cliff" issue?
How interesting how the manner in which the article was posted differs from reading a newspaper account.
That Homeland Security disputed that the arrest had held until after the election isn't stated. And that his arrest was when he was a juvenile, and hence the records were not available, is left until the end of the article.
Rather sloppy, I think. Is MSNBC trying to prove the are on par with Faux News in doing a slanted story?
Rob, what's slanted about reporting the TRUTH about how coverups and non-transparency are occuring, thanks to your lord and savior Noblaba? You HONESTLY believe EVERYTHING the news and especially the gov't tell you?
If you do (especially the liars in the WH), then I feel sorry for you. Go have some more kool aid you need it skippy...
Just saying...
Sincerely,
A dis-satisfied customer and voter...
Prime Example why sex offender laws don't work. You can't even keep an illegal immigrant out of a congressman's office, how are you going to keep a sex offender out of your neighborhood. Waste of time, money & resources better spent on good intellegence.
Since the student was an unpaid intern, an immigration check wasn't necessary -- obviously, this slipped through the cracks. I don't see how Sen. Menendez would have wanted to have him in his office had he known about these issues.
Yea invisible, and how many more just "slipped through the cracks?" Why was this so "convinently" discovered NOW, safely AFTER Menendez was re-elected?
Or is this just another shining example of what I said "transparency in it's finest".
Go figure skip.
Just saying...
Sincerely,
A dis-satisfied customer and voter...
Did Barack Obama's drunk driving illegal alien uncle Onyango "slip through the cracks" or was he conveniently give a "wink wink" pass?
Let's see if we can make it simple:
Homeland Security: Appointed by WHOM? Democratic government AND Noblaba.
Menendez: Democrat who needs to get re-elected.
Need we say more??
..So much for "transparency" with this administration. It's ok guys, just sweep it under the carpet like the TRUTH about how his adm. is crushing this country into the dirt....what a joke anymore...
Just saying...
Sincerely,
A dis-satisfied customer and voter...
Menendez received 58 percent of the vote. He would have won even if this story had come out before the election.
The word "dissatisfied" does not have a hyphen.
It does for me Invisible. And nothing for nothing, popularity was the MAIN focal point of the last election skip. How do you think Noblaba got re-elected? It sure as hell was NOT for his performance as a supposed "leader", who ONLY succeeded in squandering TRILLIONS of OUR tax dollars in bailouts for unions, failed energy companies, and non-existant "shovel ready jobs"...
So, your theory of Menendez being re-elected, dosen't hold water skip...
Just saying...
Sincerely,
A DIS-SATISFIED customer and voter...
Del-Lusional.
Acrimony and inacurracy. The perfect combo to doing nothing as a solution, but repeat out of context, conveniently ignorant ranting points. And all that despite the fact every one of those made up accusations and hatefulness towards President Obama the Right sponsored were lies. There are a number of issues I did not like regarding Our President and let the White House know through petition of. Most of those were related to the fact that Obama was more like Bushbama than the Liberal Cause Spender you label him as. You know the W Bush TARP and Tax Cuts which were left running as well as those W Bush Wars, expecially the illegal one? Allowing Drilling in the Artic? Expanding the increased Fracking without ANY regulation towards the secret chemicals being shoved into the Earth/Water/Surface Land nor its effects? You know the things you love getting done in record levels?
Nice job. Your showing of your anti Americanism is strong. Keep bleating. And keep Voting, Whether I agree with you or not, I implore you to keep voting. My pleasure to be your cheerleader!
Peace
Yes, just exactly what were the duties of this eighteen year old sex offender? Maybe we have another Jim McGreevey [the disgraced ex-governor who put his gay boy lover on the State payroll]? That was New Jersey, and this is New Jersey.