Congress of the United States Washington, BE 20510 November 24, 2015 ‘The Honorable John Roth Office of the Inspector General/ MAIL STOP 0305 Department of Homeland Security 245 Murray Lane, Southwest Washington, D.C. 20528-0305 Dear Inspector General Roth: We write to request an investigation into ICE’s failure to deport Jean Jacques, a Haitian national currently in prison for the alleged murder of a Connecticut resident. From our own investigation of this matter, itis clear that ICE irresponsibly and inexcusably failed to take actions that might have saved the life of one of our constituents. We ask that you thoroughly examine this episode to identify the individuals responsible for this failure and to recommend systemic reforms that can ensure the mistakes made in this case will never be made again. Jean Jacques was taken into custody by ICE in 2012, after serving fifteen years in prison for a conviction stemming from a 1996 shooting that left one person dead and another injured. ICE secured a final deportation order for Jacques in 2003, but failed to deport him in accordance with that order after three attempts to do so in 2012. He was then released. After violating his parole in 2014, Jacques was held by the Connecticut Department of Corrections for several months, However, ICE made no additional efforts to repatriate Jacques at this time, and he was subsequently released. Tragically, Jacques then allegedly brutally murdered Casey Chadwick, a 25 year old resident of Norwich, Connecticut. When Jacques’s history with ICE was made public in mid-July, we immediately demanded an explanation. ICE staff met with us and claimed that ICE had done everything in its power to secure travel documents for Jacques so that he could be deported to Haiti. We asked to know what specific actions ICE had taken to deport Jaeques and why these actions had proven unsuccessful. After months of effort to secure critical information from ICE, we have ultimately determined the following facts: ICE asked the Haitian government to accept Jacques as a deportee three times, but when Haitian officials denied his nationality, ICE repeatedly failed to secure additional documentation, Jacques was never made available to be interviewed by Haitian officials who could have confirmed his background and nationality. And, ICE officials never communicated with Jacques’s friends or relatives in Haiti or otherwise attempted to secure replacement identification documents.It is unconscionable that ICE failed to remove a convicted attempted murderer subject to « final deportation order. It appears that ICE could and should have taken simple additional steps that might have resulted in Jacques being repatriated and therefore never given the opportunity to murder Casey Chadwick. However, as a result of ICE’s stonewalling, we still do not feel comfortable that we have the full picture of what ICE did and failed to do in this case, as well as what systemic improvements ICE has made since this episode to improve its repatriation processes. We ask that you immediately begin an investigation to answer, at the least, the following questions: 1) Why did ICE fail to deport Jacques? What additional steps should have been taken at the time to overcome the objections of the Haitian government to the removal of this individual? Did malfeasance or nonfeasance by ICE contribute to this outcome? Which ICE officials should be held responsible and accountable for this failure? 2) What changes should ICE make to its repatriation policies and procedures, both with ards to removals to Haiti and more generally, to ensure this failure cannot happen again? Should ICE do more to ensure that deportes are interviewed by their countries of origin? Should ICE make additional efforts to contact deportes’ family members in their countries of origin? Should ICE make additional efforts to secure replacement identification documents from deportees’ countries of origin? We stand ready to work with you to assist in any investigation, and we look forward to your response. Sincerely, RICHARD BLUMENT ag CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY United States Senate United States Senate ~be JOE COURTNEY Member of Congress