By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Homeland Security released nearly 20,000 criminal immigrants in 2015, largely because the convicts’ countries wouldn’t take them back.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officials said they often have no choice but to release the criminals back into the U.S. after they serve their time, Newsday reports. 

Many of them have been convicted of violent crimes, such as murder and sexual assault.

Some members of Congress criticized ICE for releasing the immigrants.

“What is unacceptable is even one (release). Why did you release even one person?” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked Saldana.

ICE Director Sarah Saldana said her agency is developing a item to alert local authorities when a criminal is released back into society.

Chaffetz said that’s not enough.

“They got caught committing a crime. They were convicted of the crime and instead of following the law and deporting them, you released them … and they commit more crimes,” Chaffetz said. “That is so wholly unacceptable.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Dozens of federal air marshals have been committed crimes ranging from attempted murder to aiding a human trafficking ring, Patch.com reports. 

Between November 2002 and February 2012, air marshals were arrested 148 times.

Patch found that one air marshal tried to lure a young boy to a hotel room and another used his badge “to smuggle drugs past airport security.”

Air marshals also hired prostitutes and engaged in fights with security guards at a brothel.

The TSA responded, saying the incidents were relatively rare given the number of marshals.

“The vast majority of FAMs [federal air marshals] are dedicated law enforcement professionals who conduct themselves in an exemplary manner,” TSA said in a statement. “TSA and FAMS continually strive to maintain a culture of accountability within its workforce.”

Other Stories of Interest

• FBI’s Hillary Clinton Probe Closes in on a Political Crisis
• Utah Man Arrested As 14 More Indicted over Cliven Bundy Standoff
• FBI Investigating Vandalism at Islamic Society As Hate Crime
• Grim 9-Year Anniversary for Robert Levinson, Who Disappeared in Iran
• How Canine Programs Help Homeland Security Investigate

A victim of a fur farm, via Wikipedia.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Beginning this year, the FBI will begin tracking the animal cruelty cases to keep an eye on the worst abuse in the country, WJZ Baltimore reports. 

Animal rights group are applauding the efforts and point out that humans who commit crimes against animals also commit crimes against people.

Many of the goriest animal abuse cases involve dog fighting rings that leave canines for dead.

The FBI expects to track thousands of cases this year alone.

“The hope is by collecting this data, different jurisdictions–law enforcement–will be able to use it as a tool for intervention and prevention,” said Katie Flory, of the Anti-Animal Abuse Advisory Commission.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is no longer vetting arrest records from states in an apparent violation of federal regulations that require the bureau to exclude from its database “nonserious” arrests and convictions, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

The database is used by the government to conduct background checks on job applicants.

Some “nonserious” crimes are, such as curfew violations and public drunkenness, are ending up in the database.

Vetting the records for crime severity “impractical,” said Jeremy Wiltz, deputy assistant director in the FBI’s Information Services Branch.

The database includes nearly 80 million people, and the FBI last year conducted 30 million criminal background checks.

FBI Director: James Comey

The FBI is worried about the impact the government shutdown will have on investigating crime.

Already hammered by budget cuts and sequestration, the FBI is operating without employees deemed “non-essential,” the Washington Times reports.

A month ago, the FBI Agents Association said in a report that it’s concerned about budget cuts that already froze new training and the hirings of new agents.

“Trying to save money by undermining the FBI’s ability to protect the public is likely to be far more costly to our country in the long run,” the group said.

FBI Director James Comey said he’s shocked by the impact on budget cuts.

“I was very surprised to learn how severe the required cut is and the potential impact on this organization,” he said. “Frankly, as a taxpayer and as an American I was surprised, and it didn’t make any sense to me that the FBI director would be asked not just to cut 3,000 positions but, given what’s on our plate, to send folks home for a couple weeks without pay.”

WASHINGTON — The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation’s top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.

The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to begin tracking crimes by its informants more than a decade ago, after the agency admitted that its agents had allowed Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger to operate a brutal crime ring in exchange for information about the Mafia. The FBI submits that tally to top Justice Department officials each year, but has never before made it public.

Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants — who are often criminals themselves — to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations.

To read the full story click here.

Henry Crumpton served as U.S. coordinator for counterterrorism from 2005 to 2007.

Henry Crumpton/ charlie rose show

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI, the world’s leading law enforcement agency, has labored to transform itself into an intelligence organization — while preserving its policing pre-eminence. This challenge has proved difficult.

There are major cultural and structural differences between law enforcement and intelligence. I saw how different when I was a senior CIA officer on loan to the FBI, as the deputy chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section from 1998 to 1999. I retired from government service — but recent conversations with knowledgeable government officials suggest that this remains true today.

The FBI is still measuring success, according to one well-informed confidant, based on arrests and criminal convictions — not on the value of intelligence collected and disseminated to its customers.

To read more click here.