A key Republican senator is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security provide details about the immigration status of two men, including one illegal immigrant, who have been charged with the murder of a California woman.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the murder of Marilyn Pharis on July 24 appears to be another example of how DHS is failing to do enough to ensure illegal alien criminals are removed from the country. Pharis' death came just weeks after another illegal immigrant with a criminal record picked up a gun and fired it, killing Kate Steinle in San Francisco.

In his letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, Grassley noted that local officials in Santa Maria, California, are blaming Washington for Pharis' death.

"Clearly, there has been a total breakdown in cooperation between local and federal law enforcement that allowed this alleged killer to be released and, despite his lengthy and violent criminal record, never deported," Grassley wrote. "Police Chief Martin said, 'I am not remiss to say that from Washington, D.C., to Sacramento, there's a blood trail into the bedroom of Marilyn Pharis.'"

Republicans have placed the blame on sanctuary cities like San Francisco and Santa Maria, which purposefully choose not to follow federal requests to hold illegal immigrants with criminal records.

"Clearly, sanctuary city policies are wreaking havoc on citizens, and especially on women," Grassley said.

But Grassley said in the latest case, both federal and local officials seem to be at fault. Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez and Jose Fernando Villagomez have been charged with sexually assaulting and killing Pharis, and press reports say Martinez was in the country illegally.

According to Grassley, Martinez was arrested for driving without a license in 2009, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement never sought to detain Martinez. In 2014, after Martinez was arrested again on drug and sexual assault charges, the reverse happened — ICE did ask for him to be held, but the Santa Maria sheriff's office ignored that request.

To learn more about how Martinez fell through the cracks, Grassley demanded that DHS give the committee the "immigration history, immigration status, and criminal history" for both men, by August 15.

Grassley is also demanding all information that the federal government had on Martinez, and whether Martinez has applied for deferred deportation status under President Obama's relaxed immigration enforcement program.

In early July, Johnson dodged a question about whether sanctuary cities were a problem leading to ongoing criminal activity by illegal immigrants, and said only that he was optimistic about "the direction where we are headed."

Read Grassley's letter here:



