Senator Charles Grassley said last week he would be seeking the immigration history on the suspect in the triple homicide that happened in Des Moines earlier this month. Marvin Oswaldo Esquivel Lopez is accused of murdering a mother and her two children. He was previously deported from the United States in 2010 and 2011, according to ICE.
The Iowa Standard asked Grassley how long it typically takes to receive a response and what he was hoping to hear.
Grassley sent a letter to Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary for Homeland Security. He said they typically give 10-14 days to receive an answer from a letter.
“One thing we ought to be able to get an answer on right away is his criminal history,” Grassley said. “And we ought to be able to get his immigration history and what he was deported for two times.”
It’s unlikely any revelations will come surrounding the triple homicide.
“But isn’t it a crime that we have people who have been deported twice coming back and murdering two young kids along with their mother,” Grassley asked. “Isn’t it terrible that a person deported five times came back to San Francisco years ago and killed Kate Steinle? So we have a bill in to put people in prison if they’ve been deported and come back into the country.”
Another Iowa journalist on the call asked Grassley if there’s anything in the works to simplify legal immigration.
Grassley said he could identify three areas that could be addressed and passed if a bill were limited to those three specific areas in the Senate. First, he said, a bill passed for unskilled workers to work where they are needed. Second, ag workers to work where they are needed. And third, professional workers like engineers.
“But the trouble is, you put a bill like that up and everybody tries to attach every other immigration issue to it so you can’t get it passed,” Grassley said. “That’s what keeps a lot of good legal immigration (legislation) from passing.”
