Posted on 12/12/2012 1:53:15 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Sen. Menendez pleads ignorance of sex offender intern
By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News
White House Correspondent
By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 1 hr 4 mins ago
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., listens to testimony by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Capitol Hill in October. …Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said Wednesday there was "no way" for him or his staff to know that an unpaid college intern in his office was in this country illegally and had registered as a sex offender.
Menendez told MSNBC that his staff learned of the situation on Monday and that he himself found out just moments before going on the program.
"I didn't know anything about the young man's status" before that, said the senator, a passionate advocate for a comprehensive overhaul of immigration policy, ostensibly the main subject of the interview.
The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that immigration authorities arrested Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, an 18-year-old immigrant from Peru, last Thursday. Sanchez came to the United States on a now-expired visitor visa and may be deported. The exact nature of his sex-related offense was not immediately clear because it occurred when he was a minor, the AP said. The news agency cited an anonymous official as saying that the Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after Election Day.
"There's no way we could know about his status" from a standard background check because he was under 18 at the time of the infraction, Menendez told MSNBC. He also denied knowing anything about the alleged timing of the arrest.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
That’s right Bob - I believe you.
Ignorance is no excuse. He should have known who was working in his office.
. . . which totally explains why the Department of Homeland Sercurity was told to hold off on any arrest until after the election.
I had to undergo a CORI (Criminal Background Check) to be on the Football Stadium Commission!
And you know it would be really neat if there was a way to do a records check to see if someone had any warrants, arrests, or convictions out there. Maybe something that linked the FBI and all the police departments together. It would be neat if someone was intending to be employed by a senator and they were able to have a background check done.... Man life in the 20th century is gonna be like so totally awesome.
Didn’t the Liar Bawney Frank have a similar lapse in knowledge regarding his roomie?
menendez probably didn’t think in the midst of many “interviews” with him to ask this other criminal his status.
Well first off how did he get in the country. And who got him a job on his staff?
This really smells.......reminds me of Robert Torricelli.
And this POS is a law maker, telling the rest of us how to live, what we can and can’t own, how much of our own money we can keep...
What a degenerate...in a political party FULL of degenerates.
I seem to remember some scandal recently regarding this same turd in the Dominican Republic, with hookers....sound familiar, anyone?
BTHOOM
This jack ass ought to plead ignorance every time he votes or opens his mouth.
He needs to go and yesterday was too soon.
If he is saying he is ignorant, it is going to be real hard to prove otherwise given his record.
yeah, right... 
then WHO ordered ICE NOT to arrest him until AFTER the election you POS you???
Nah, New Jersey SLUGS (read that Dems) will re-elect him, those too stupid to pay attention will re-elect him, the welfare queen brood mares will re-elect him, and the just plain dumbass rank and file will re-elect him.
Christie should do whatever he can to disgrace and denigrate this disreputable slug and replace his ass.
It is routine for a through vetting to take place for any political position, irregardless if it is for an internship, paid political position, or so forth. Even heavily involved volunteers are subject to a criminal background check.
All he needed to do is use eVerify
Ignorance of the LAW is neither an excuse nor a DEFENSE in EVERY STATE.
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