Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are pressing President Obama and his administration to explain how an illegal immigrant facing child molestation and pornography charges fell under the feds' radar and received amnesty.
Breitbart reported whistleblowers revealed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were aware Edgar Covarrubias-Padilla was part of a child exploitation investigation in November 2014 – but that didn't prevent feds from approving his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals application in May 2015. He was arrested a couple weeks ago on the child molestation charge, as well as on a distributing child pornography offense.
Officials found him working as a camp counselor in Saratoga, California.
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Covarrubias-Padilla was the night manager at Walden West's Cupertino campus, and lived in staff housing at the camp's Saratoga campus. He also substituted in various roles at the camp, where fifth- and sixth-graders from throughout the county stay for week-long sessions learning about science and the environment. He was known to kids as "Papa Bear."
"He was supposed to be awake all night to address any concerns of the campers. If they were uncomfortable with anything, they were supposed to go to Papa Bear," parent Amanda Barnett told KGO-TV.
The family of a child who attended Walden West has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation from the Santa Clara County Office of Education, in the wake of the arrest.
The child reported that Covarrubias-Padilla would come into the students' cabin at night, and also would take boys for walks in the woods, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
The claim accuses the office of education, the county board of education and camp Director Anita Parsons, who has been placed on leave, of negligence and carelessness.
The Santa Clara County Office of Education claims he passed a criminal background check when he was hired two years ago.
"He may have taken pictures of our kids. He was going in the cabin to wake up our kids in the morning," parent Alda Moore told the TV station.
"How do we know that he did not place cameras in the showers, in the toilets, things like that?" Barnett added.
"These allegations are deeply troubling because, if true, they suggest that DHS was aware for months or years that Mr. Covarrubias-Padilla posed a public safety threat to the children he was monitoring, yet took no action to revoke his DACA authorization," Grassley said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Breitbart reported.
Grassley said part of the problem is the failure of DHS officials to communicate with each other.
"Of note, news sources have reported that the Santa Clara Sheriff's Office initiated Mr. Covarrubias-Padilla's arrest after the Department of Homeland Security contacted them with concerns about Mr. Covarrubias-Padilla's involvement in child exploitation and child pornography," Grassley wrote. "These reports raise significant questions concerning the coordination of ICE and USCIS in regards to DACA recipients."