Following the tragic murders that took place in Montgomery County, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas last week, U.S. Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) and Kevin Yoder (KS-03) convened a meeting this morning with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to get to the bottom of what happened.

“Montgomery County, particularly the city of New Florence, was rocked last week when the news broke that an illegal alien and alleged murderer, Pablo Serrano-Vitorino, killed a citizen,” Luetkemeyer said. “Since the murders in New Florence and in Kansas City, information has come to light that Serrano-Vitorino was deported from the United States in 2004 and had been arrested numerous times since he illegally re-entered our country, but he was never deported again. Representative Yoder and I will continue to demand answers from ICE officials regarding this tragedy. This case, and the many others like it, is further proof of our country’s failed immigration policies and the unacceptable failure of administration officials to enforce the law. We must secure our borders, deport criminals, enforce our laws, and hold officials accountable for breakdowns such as this.”

“After today’s call it’s evident the breakdown that occurred in this case is a symptom of the overall issue: our government has failed to adequately secure our borders,” Yoder said. “Because of that failure, ICE is overwhelmed in trying to detain and deport these criminals and mistakes are made. We can’t make mistakes when lives are at stake. We can’t be sending a mop-up crew to clean up a breach in a dam. That’s why I’m going to continue to fight for a secure border to ensure the safety of innocent Americans in their lives and in their homes.”