Politics in Play in Delayed Arrest of Illegal Immigrant Working for NJ Senator?
Can you imagine this scenario? An illegal immigrant - a registered sex offender - is hired as an unpaid intern for a prominent U.S. Senator? Imagine, this intern is given access to important documents and sensitive information?
That's exactly what happened in the office of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey). And what's worse, when the intern's background became known, the Obama Administration, according to reports, put off an arrest until after the election - with one federal agency saying an arrest before the election "had the possibility of garnering significant congressional and media interest."
According to the AP, which broke the story, when Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta was 15 he was arrested on a charge of aggravated sexual assault in 2009. Police records show he was accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy at least eight times and sentenced to two years' probation and required to register as a sex offender.
The Senator says he never knew about the background of Zavaleta until the AP report was published. His office said there was no need to conduct a background check or run a social security number because the 18-year-old was an unpaid intern.
Absolutely ridiculous. As I told Megyn Kelly on FOX News today, there needs to be an investigation to get to the bottom of this. The Inspector General's Office inside the Department of Homeland Security should conduct a probe.
Now, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are rightfully expressing their concern.
Sen. Grassley and others are demanding answers from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Other than denying that the arrest date was pushed back for political reasons, the Obama Administration is not providing much information at all.
Don't be surprised if the Senate Judiciary Committee calls hearings to find out exactly what took place.