Though Barack Obama was not in San Francisco on July 1, he was just as culpable in the murder of 31 year old Katie Steinle as the man who pulled the trigger: a five-time deported illegal with seven prior felony convictions.

It is the policy of this administration to ignore US immigration policy. One doesn’t know the reasons for this decision but it is difficult to think that humanitarianism has anything to do with it. This is the same administration that, you will recall, initiated a low level war along the US-Mexico border in order to establish a fact pattern that would support increased regulation of firearms in the United States. In 2012, the administration unilaterally granted amnesty to illegals under the age of thirty and authorized the issuance of work permits. A draft immigration bill proposed by the White House would specifically stop the automatic deportation of illegals based on a felony conviction. Despite Obama’s refrain of “deporting felons not families” (what the hell does that mean anyway?) the administration has pursued a policy of allowing illegal felons to walk out of custody to repeat their crimes. Via Judicial Watch:

The crimes committed by illegal aliens released from federal custody include homicide, sexual assault, theft, kidnapping and alcohol-related driving convictions. In all, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) freed 36,007 aliens convicted of 88,000 crimes from detention centers throughout the United States, according the breathtaking agency records, which were obtained this month by a nonpartisan research center dedicated to studying immigration issues.

The Washington D.C.-based group, Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), published a chart with a breakdown of the crimes committed by the illegal aliens who now roam freely in unsuspecting U.S. neighborhoods. Of interesting note is that the majority of the releases from ICE custody were discretionary, CIS found, which means they weren’t required by law. In some instances the releases were actually contrary to law and local illegal immigrant sanctuary policies did not play a role in the vast majority. This indicates that it’s part of the Obama administration’s broader amnesty policy, which has favored letting illegal aliens live outside detention centers while their cases get resolved.

Let’s take a look at the breakdown of crimes committed by this latest batch of freed illegal aliens. The records show that more than 16,000 were convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Over 9,000 had dangerous drug convictions, 1,075 were convicted of aggravated assault, 426 of sexual assault and 193 of homicide. Additionally, the records show that 1,160 of the freed illegal immigrants had stolen vehicle convictions, 303 kidnapping convictions and 303 flight escape convictions.

The effect is much as you might expect. Via the Washington Times:

All told, 121 immigrants who were held but eventually released by ICE went on to commit “homicide-related offenses” from 2010 through 2014, the agency said.

It said 33 of those were ordered released by immigration courts and another 24 were released because of a 2001 Supreme Court decision capping the time an immigrant can be detained to six months. But a majority of the releases were at ICE’s discretion.

In a statement Monday, ICE said that a criminal record isn’t enough to qualify for mandatory detention under agency policies.

“When making custody determinations, ICE performs an individualized review of the individual’s immigration history and criminal history, pursuant to the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA),” the agency said. “In accordance with the requirements of the INA, not all criminals are subject to mandatory detention and thus may be eligible for bond.”

Like, for instance:

Breitbart Texas has exclusively confirmed that a man who confessed to murdering his wife with a hammer in Laredo, Texas is a four-time deported illegal immigrant who would not have been in the U.S. had he not been able to illegally cross back into the country multiple times from Mexico after his deportations. In addition, the Laredo Police Department continuously encountered the man in violent episodes with his wife, yet did not notify Border Patrol, according to federal agents who spoke with Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity.

While the focus is on the more outrageous crimes, the real body count is racked up on our highways.

A collision on Papago Road that injured two children is being blamed on a driver who was in the country illegally.

July 4 at 2:19 p.m., a woman with two children was driving a 2002 Oldsmobile Bravado west on Papago near the intersection of Amarillo Valley Road when it collided with an eastbound 2003 Ford Explorer, driven by Manuel Perez-Vasquez.

Perez-Vasquez reportedly fled the scene with at least one other passenger from the Explorer but later returned.

According to Sheriff Paul Babeu, Perez-Vasquez had been deported to Mexico six times since May 5, 2012.

Despite illegal re-entry into the United States being a felony, there is no evidence that the administration has any interest in using this tool to deter illegals who make crossing the border a lifestyle choice. There is, on the other hand, a great deal of evidence that this reluctance to prosecute is part of a strategy used by the administration to enable it to talk tough about its record on deportations while, in fact, doing very little:

As noted in a Washington Times article, “Napolitano: U.S. will set a record for deportations”, DHS has been reporting and publicizing its high levels of deportations of criminal illegal immigrants.¹³ However, there is evidence that a significant percentage of these criminal deportees have been deported at least once before.

Out of the 188,382 criminal aliens deported in 2011, at least 86,699, or 46 percent, had been deported earlier and had illegally returned to the United States.

This is essentially a catch-and-release program which serves the administration’s goals of non-enforcement of immigration laws and bloats their deportation statistics. Now that the murder of Ms. Steinle is in the news, the administration is seeking to, wait for it, blame the GOP for the fact that a five-time deportee committed a senseless murder.

The White House on Monday defended its immigration policies and blasted Republicans following the killing of a San Francisco woman — allegedly by an illegal immigrant.

When asked if the case was a failure of the administration’s enforcement policies, White House press secretary Josh Earnest chided Republicans for blocking a bipartisan immigration bill that would have boosted funding for border security.

“I recognize that people want to play politics with this,” Earnest said. “The fact is the president has done everything within his power to make sure that we’re focusing our law enforcement resources on criminals and those who pose a threat to public safety.”

Kathryn Steinle, 32, was shot and killed Wednesday at a popular tourist destination in San Francisco. The suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, had multiple felony convictions and had been deported to Mexico five times.

Earnest faulted the “political efforts of Republicans” for blocking “the kind of investment that we would like to make in securing our border and keeping our communities safe.”

The federal government had ample opportunity to protect Ms. Steinle from her killer. It didn’t. It didn’t protect her, not because it was lacking in resources but because it is a calculated policy of this administration to not enforce immigration laws. And while the administration continues to pursue whatever politcal game it is playing, more people will be killed by illegals who have been deported multiple times and each of those deaths must be seen as part of cost-benefit calculation by the administration.