Janet Napolitano On Intern Arrest: Homeland Security Secretary Unaware Of Immigration Case

Napolitano Denies Knowledge Of Intern Scandal
Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she was unaware of an immigration case involving a Senate intern and registered sex offender before he was arrested in December.

Napolitano told a Senate committee Wednesday that she first learned of the case after The Associated Press wrote a story detailing the case last year.

Senate intern Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, an undocumented immigrant from Peru, was arrested in December. Sanchez is a registered sex offender in New Jersey and was working as an unpaid intern for Sen. Robert Menedez, a New Jersey Democrat.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in New Jersey were set to arrest Sanchez in late October but were told to delay the arrest after superiors were told the case could generate "significant Congressional and media interest."

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