http://www.phillynews.com/daily_news/99/Jul/01/national/KILL01.htm

July 1, 1999

Resendez-Ramirez in custody 9 times

INS had suspect - and let him go

Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON - The Immigration and Naturalization Service had suspected serial killer Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, the so-called Railway Killer, in its grasp nine times in the last 18 months and failed to hold him.

On each occasion, the Border Patrol voluntarily released him, allowing him to re-enter Mexico after he had been apprehended trying to enter the United States illegally.

Resendez-Ramirez, whose alleged victims were all killed in homes near railroad tracks, is now one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted and the subject of an intense manhunt. He is accused of committing at least eight murders in Illinois, Texas and Kentucky, including four since his last release on June 2 at the Santa Theresa Station, New Mexico.

"There's no good explanation on the part of INS or the Department of Justice unless we have an agency that doesn't work or doesn't care," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House immigration subcommittee. "How many more Ramirez' are out there?"

INS Commissioner Doris Meissner responded to the criticism yesterday by asking the Justice Department, which oversees the agency, and its own internal auditors, to investigate.

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