Department of Homeland Security deletes accusation about Minnesota man facing deportation
The Department of Homeland Security has quietly deleted an accusation it made about a Minnesota man facing deportation.
The accusation was about At Chandee. As of Tuesday, the 52-year-old man is in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody related to a 1992 conviction for assault.
He was on the verge of being deported on May 5, but the conviction was pardoned the day prior in an emergency meeting. That means it's possible he could be released.
DHS slammed the decision in a press release on May 6, including accusing Chandee of committing more felonies.
The release said Chandee was "convicted of assault in 1992. An Immigration Judge issued Chandee a final order of removal in 1995. Chandee was convicted again in 2008 on two felony counts of aggravated assault – weapon."
WCCO called Chandee's lawyer, Linus Chan. He said DHS was wrong. WCCO tried searching for the 2008 convictions on Minnesota's online court database and couldn't find them on the site, nor in the federal court database.
When WCCO asked DHS for clarification last week, they replied a few days later with a link to the edited press release. It now states that Chandee was "convicted of two counts of assault in 1993. An Immigration Judge issued Chandee a final order of removal in 1995."
The sentence about the 2008 convictions was deleted.
DHS also edited the statement in the release from Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. Her quote on May 6 mentioned "three violent assaults."
The edited version now says "two counts of assault."
In its email response, DHS never told WCCO where the 2008 convictions came from. The entire email was nothing but the updated press release.
WCCO responded again, asking where the convictions came from, why they were deleted and why the acting assistant secretary's quote was edited, and is waiting to hear back.
