Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida on Monday denounced the Biden administration’s lax immigration policies, and demanded that the top official overseeing them explain why an illegal immigrant was free and able to roam the country before nearly killing a Virginia police officer.
The Fort Walton Beach Republican also called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to detail how many other law enforcement officers and first-responders have been injured by President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to police the southern border.
Gaetz was angered over an incident that occurred in Chesapeake, Virginia, in the early morning hours of Aug. 19.
According to local media, the unidentified officer was conducting a traffic stop around 2:30 a.m. that day. While talking to the driver he had pulled over, the officer was struck by a car driven by 30-year-old Yacarely Diaz-Castro.
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What the local media did not report at the time was that, according to Gaetz’s office, Diaz-Castro had entered the U.S. illegally seven months ago from Nicaragua.
According to Gaetz, Diaz-Castro claimed to have received a “Notice to Report” Form I-385.
The recipient of that form is required to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement within 60 days, with deportation proceedings to begin immediately afterward.
Yet none of that happened to Diaz-Castro, Gaetz noted.
Gaetz hammered Mayorkas for information to be provided to him by Oct. 2.
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Gaetz also asked Mayorkas to share the number of law enforcement personnel and first-responders have been injured by illegal immigrants over the past two years.
One of those happened in Florida just a year ago.
Last September, Pinellas County Deputy Michael Hartwick was run over and killed by an illegal immigrant driving a front-end loader while providing security at a construction site along Interstate 275.
In the Virgina case, Diaz-Castro was arrested and charged with aggravated DUI maiming, failure to move over for a stationary vehicle with warning lights, and driving without a valid license.
* ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
https://www.tampafp.com/florida-rep-matt-gaetz-wants-answers-virginia/