Oversight Republicans: ‘Hundreds’ of migrants in caravans have criminal histories

Top GOP House Oversight and Reform Committee members asked acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan Thursday to release information on the criminal records of people traveling in so-called migrant caravans.

In a letter signed by Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the top Republican on the committee, and subcommittee ranking members Reps. Mark Meadows (N.C.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Chip Roy (Texas), Michael Cloud (Texas) and James Comer (Ky.), the Republicans say Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data provided to them “shows that hundreds of migrants approaching the southern border have criminal histories.”

{mosads}According to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report from October 2018 cited in the letter, an 8,000-strong migrant caravan approaching California had 660 individuals with criminal records traveling within it, including “nearly 40 convicted of assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.”

The letter also cites a January 2019 CBP report of a caravan with 3,300 members, of whom 860 had U.S. criminal histories, including “over 20 convicted of assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, nearly 30 convicted of sexual offenses, two convicted of violence against law enforcement, and one convicted of attempted murder.”

In the letter obtained by The Hill, the Republicans ask McAleenan to provide the arrest warrants and court documents of “all migrants in the January 2019 and October 2018 caravans believed to have criminal histories.”