WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. tried repeatedly to deport Jean Jacques, an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, but his native Haiti wouldn't take him back after he served more than a decade in a state prison for attempted murder and committed multiple parole violations.
Each time Jacques was arrested on a parole violation, he would serve a sentence in state prison and then be released to immigration custody. At least three times, Haiti refused to take him back, so Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in early 2015 did the same thing they do thousands of times a year — they released a violent criminal immigrant from jail.
STATE HOUSE — Echoing a debate that dominated Beacon Hill for the better part of the past year, the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday is poised to vote on a package of proposals, several of which were sponsored by the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, that would push the country along a similar path charted by Bay State lawmakers to combat the opioid epidemic.
Congresswoman Katherine Clark sponsored three bills set to come up for votes in the House, including one authorizing the partial-filling of opioid prescriptions, an issue state lawmakers wrestled with to ensure they did not run afoul of federal law.
