An illegal immigrant felon with a checkered criminal history was finally deported after eight years in America’s legal system in 2012. But after illegally re-entering the country again, she is now free while her asylum hearing is pending because federal immigration authorities did not carefully examine her record and history when she applied for asylum.

According to Judicial Watch‘s California law enforcement sources, an illegal alien from El Salvador named Jessica Martinez has five children and collects Social Security benefits, food stamps, and other government services for them through the county. She and her husband were caught running an identity theft operation in 2003.

Judicial Watch calls Martinez “the poster child for the fraud and abuse in the U.S. asylum system” that criminals like drug cartel members have been exploiting by using the “credible fear” defense.

In 2004, Martinez and her husband, Juan Veliz, “got criminally charged for the identity theft scheme, both went to jail and got three years of felony probation.” The husband was deported, but “Martinez remained in the U.S. and applied for asylum, claiming that she was a crime victim and would be killed if returned to El Salvador.”

After the federal government released Martinez, she committed more crimes. She was ultimately “convicted of grand theft in a real estate scam,” but, “incredibly, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allowed her to remain free pending her asylum hearing.”

After eight years, an immigration judge finally denied her asylum and, after several more brushes with the law, Martinez was deported.

Then, “Martinez illegally crossed the border and ended up in Los Angeles.” Even though she had an extensive criminal history, Martinez reportedly applied for asylum once again and was released into the community pending the hearing.

“ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) gives Martinez an immigration court date and releases her back in the general public,” the law enforcement source told Judicial Watch.

As Breitbart News has reported, the Department of Homeland Security, most recently at a congressional hearing last week, has conceded that asylum requests at the border have doubled and amnesty seekers are using various code words to enter the United States – possibly overwhelming the immigration system. The Associated Press has reported that such “credible fear” claims at the border “reached 14,610 by the end of June with three more months to go in the fiscal year.” That is compared to 6,824 such claims for the entire 2011 fiscal year.

A Department of Homeland Security official recently explained that when illegal immigrants apply for asylum, in addition to a detailed “credible fear” interview, they reportedly undergo “a biographic and biometric check and are run through a national security database that uses federal, state, local and foreign sources to identify terrorists, wanted persons, and persons of interest for law enforcement and counterterrorism purposes.”

Yet, Jessica Martinez’s case — and extensive criminal history — somehow did not set off any alarms.