Rep. Matt Gaetz on Thursday ripped the Biden administration for covering up an incident of “migrant crime” that recently occurred in his backyard.
The Fort Walton Beach Republican noted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had ignored his request for information about an illegal immigrant, Byron Pineda, who was arrested last month in the death of a 21-year-old motorcyclist in Escambia County.
As the Tampa Free Press reported last month, Pineda tried to change lanes on a busy highway west of Pensacola and allegedly killed the biker after striking him.
In response, Gaetz posted on X that Pineda “killed one of my constituents in Northwest Florida yesterday. When President Trump returns to the White House, we must endeavor on the largest arrest & deportation operation the world has ever seen.”
Read: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz Says Biden Must Deploy Navy To Block Immigrants Fleeing Chaos In Haiti
“Illegal aliens are literally killing our neighbors in every community in America,” Gaetz posted. “When will Congress wake up to the danger and take action to save lives?”
Gaetz sent letters to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner seeking answers about Pineda, who ICE wanted at the time of the fatal crash.
An ICE official responded to Gaetz last week by saying he needed to obtain a privacy waiver from Pineda, an illegal immigrant, in order to access his federal arrest records.
“While I support the mission of your component, and DHS more generally, and strive to maintain a positive working relationship, your response is wildly inappropriate,” Gaetz wrote back to the agency on Thursday.
“The quick turnaround suggests that perhaps the response was in error, because it is both legally inappropriate and tone-deaf to recommend that a member of Congress seek a Privacy Act waiver from an illegal alien who murdered a constituent of mine. So I am giving you a second chance for response.”
Read: Rep. Matt Gaetz Reveals Biden Admin May Use Navy To Stop Anticipated Haitian Migration Into Florida
Gaetz, who reminded the agency that he has jurisdiction over them as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, wanted to know how Pineda entered our country and been allowed to remain. He also sought answers as to why ICE wanted Pineda and how quickly he will be deported if he is convicted in Florida.
“Possible responses to these questions include statements of Departmental policy: it cannot be the case that if I ask the Department of Defense ‘what are you going to do about an attack on U.S. servicemembers,’ that an adequate response might be ‘explaining what we are going to do will violate the rights of those who died, or those who carried out the attack.’”
“Try again.”
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