Suspect in rape, murder of 20-year-old autistic woman was illegal border crosser, alleged MS-13 gang member, released by Biden admin into the US despite arrest before killing

"Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked Biden's Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in letters sent late Monday to explain how a known gangbanger from El Salvador was released from custody by both departments and permitted to live in the United States," The Washington Examiner reported.

“The Biden Administration’s open-border policies have created vulnerabilities that criminal aliens and gang members exploit to the detriment of American citizens,” Jordan and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) wrote in a letter to Becerra. “Pursuant to the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to conduct oversight of federal immigration policy and procedures.”

The investigation was launched after pleas from the mother of the victim, Tammy Nobles, who wants answers as to how her daughter Kayla Hamilton, 20, became a victim of the known criminal that managed to slip through the immigration system and was able to live in Aberdeen, Maryland, before the slaying of Hamilton in her own bedroom.

According to the Examiner article posted on the House Judiciary website, "the suspect, whose name has not been released because of his age, was apprehended in Rio Grande City, Texas, in March 2022 and taken into custody by federal Border Patrol agents. As is protocol, the suspect was turned over to HHS, which is tasked by Congress with caring for unaccompanied children and finding sponsors to release them to within the US."

“The suspect was arrested at the border in Rio Grande City, Texas," Nobles previously told the Washington Examiner. "We do not know if his background was checked or not."

It is not known whether the Biden regime knew of the unnamed suspect's gang associations, though Aberdeen Police have known of his gang affiliations since earlier this year.

US Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, did not disclose in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner in February if it screened the suspect at the border.

"CBP screens migrants utilizing a range of criteria and methods that are law enforcement sensitive," according to a statement from CBP. "Methods for assessing the validity of migrants’ age include the collection of biometric and biographic information such as fingerprints, photos, phone numbers, addresses, and documentation provided by migrants or government agencies. Identification and age determination are also determined through background investigations, agent interviews, and consulate verification."

The suspect admitted to police that he had family in Maryland and identified a woman in Frederick as his aunt. The suspect went to live with his aunt and then moved out and into a rented room in a three-bedroom mobile home, where Hamilton and her boyfriend lived.

The Examiner reports that Hamilton was found "deceased by her boyfriend roughly half a day after she had been raped and strangled to death in her bed on July 27, 2022. Hamilton had returned home from an overnight shift at a grocery store when the suspect entered her and her boyfriend’s shared bedroom against her will."

Republicans are demanding that Becerra turn over the Department of Homeland Security's file on the suspect, including at what points he entered HHS and DHS custody, as well as information on its effort to reunite him with a family member in Maryland. Additionally, they will seek information on " if and how HHS attempted to verify the suspect’s claim that he was a minor, if, how, and when it learned of the suspect’s MS-13 gang status, and if it verified that he was related to the woman who he was released to."

"Mayorkas was asked for information about the suspect’s immigration history, benefits applications, consular file, and immigration status. Republicans asked that DHS share all information that agents learned about the suspect when he was first intercepted," the Examiner wrote.

Jordan and McClintock gave the secretaries until March 13 to provide responses.