Suspect frequented both sides of border

Questions raised about Mexican justice, U.S. polices in Juarez probe
By Jay Root
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Photo by Christ Chavez / mcclatchy-tribune

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — For years young women have been raped, mutilated, killed and dumped into shallow graves in Ciudad Juarez, the gritty Mexican city across the border from El Paso. For just as long, the perpetrators have gone unpunished, sparking international outrage at an inept Mexican justice system.

Now a possible break in the case raises questions not only about Mexican justice but also about U.S. policies that allowed a leading suspect in some of the killings to go in and out of American jails and to shuttle between Juarez and U.S. cities along the border.

Law enforcement records in Texas and New Mexico show that the suspect, Jose Francisco Granados de la Paz, was frequently in American jails and was sent back to Mexico repeatedly, only to return to the United States and commit more crimes. Granados' story exemplifies the revolving door that is the U.S.-Mexican border.

While U.S. law enforcement can deport convicts to Mexico, it has no authority to keep watch on them there. Often they simply sneak back across the border.

"If he's killing little girls in Mexico, what's he doing here?" said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee. "The key here is to get the guy off the street .... The problem is they deport these guys and they just come back."

The United States is supposed to notify Mexico when it deports criminal aliens. Whether that happened in Granados' case couldn't be determined. Repeated calls to the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso weren't returned.