A preemptive strike on DHS from the Center for Immigration Studies, designed to make Obama’s upcoming “relaxation” of U.S. deportation procedures as politically painful as possible. He’s desperate to pander to his base, which is impatient after waiting more than five years for amnesty and has now convinced itself based on cooked numbers that he’s some sort of crazed border hawk. That’s where the “relaxation” comes in — and that’s the beauty of CIS’s otherwise grim data, which shows just how relaxed the system already is. Maybe O will consider it a blessing in disguise, though. What true amnesty fan wouldn’t be happy to learn that illegals with a total of 15,000+ DUI convictions between them were free last year to get back behind the wheel on American roads?

Note that these 36,000 offenders are separate from the 68,000 illegals with criminal records who were also released last year and whom CIS reported on back in March. The latter group consists of people whom ICE “encountered” (often in jails) but didn’t seek to remove; the former group is composed of people they did try to remove with formal deportation proceedings but who were released on bond or via some other mechanism while the proceedings played out. How many of them didn’t show up to their next hearing? Good question. We don’t know because ICE hasn’t said.

The document reveals that the 36,007 convicted criminal aliens freed from ICE custody in many instances had multiple convictions. Among them, the 36,007 had nearly 88,000 convictions, including: 193 homicide convictions (including one willful killing of a public official with gun) 426 sexual assault convictions 303 kidnapping convictions 1,075 aggravated assault convictions 1,160 stolen vehicle convictions 9,187 dangerous drug convictions 16,070 drunk or drugged driving convictions 303 flight escape convictions… Separate information obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals that the vast majority of these releases were discretionary, or even contrary to the requirements of various provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Only a small share of these criminal aliens (fewer than 3,000) were released in accordance with a 2001 Supreme Court decision, Zadvydas v. Davis, which prevents ICE from indefinitely detaining certain aliens whose countries will not accept them back. (See “Reining in Zadvydas v. Davis”.) Another small number may have been offered parole or legal status, either in exchange for their cooperation with ICE or another law enforcement agency in connection with a criminal prosecution, or because of another compelling public interest.

The combined number of convictions for “domestic violence” and “sex offenses” was north of 2,000. And CIS notes that Obama’s 2012 executive amnesty for DREAMers may have enabled some of it, since it’s known that some illegals have claimed they qualify for relief under it and were released before their claim was even checked out. How many? That’s another number that ICE won’t give us.

If you want a taste of just how perilous the big deportation “relaxation” is for the White House, read this BuzzFeed piece from last week about Chuck Schumer — yes, that Chuck Schumer — encouraging the White House to take its time in issuing the order. That’s not because Schumer cares particularly that illegals with more than 220 convictions for kidnappings between them were released during deportation proceedings last year; it’s because he’s afraid that softening up deportation even further right now might be the final straw politically for the House GOP and cause them to abandon amnesty for the rest of the year. Schumer wants the White House to lie low and give Boehner until August (i.e. after the GOP primaries are over) to try to make something happen. If the House is still deadlocked then, Obama can go ahead and issue his order on deportations. Can’t wait to see what numbers CIS is planning to publish that month.