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Ashcroft says among the aliens are hundreds of sexual predators, drug traffickers and murderers.

By Terry Frieden
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The first of several thousand criminal aliens whose home countries refuse to take them back could be released from custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service by the end of next week, INS officials said Thursday. Officials said they are taking several "responsible steps to protect the public" as they abide by a June 28 Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the government from holding deportable aliens indefinitely if they have served their time for crimes committed in the United States.

"I am especially concerned that these criminal aliens may re-enter and prey upon immigrant communities within the United States," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a speech in Denver. "Many of these criminal aliens have extensive histories of brutal violent crime and pose a danger to society," he said.

"We're not just going to open the gate," said a senior Justice Department official in Washington who asked not to be identified.

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Officials said at least some of the necessary precautions, such as registration of sexual predators and notification of local police departments and trial witnesses, could be accomplished in a few days.

"Some of these people could be released by the end of next week," an INS official said.

Ashcroft said the government will immediately step up pressure on the home countries to repatriate some of the estimated 3,400 criminal detainees subject to release following the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision.

Justice Department and INS officials said they intend to give top priority to requests to even some of the most uncooperative countries to accept the dangerous aliens.

An estimated 1,200 of the 3,400 aliens are from four nations -- Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos -- that have no repatriation agreements with the United States.

"We owe it to the American people to make every effort to get these countries to live up to their obligations," Ashcroft said. "We will pursue the full range of appropriate diplomatic measures."

He said the law allows the secretary of state to discontinue granting visas to citizens of any country that refuses to accept the return of criminal aliens.

The INS and its parent Justice Department were forced to move quickly in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

The court backed the complaints of a German and a Cambodian who were being held with no apparent hope of being deported. German native Kestuties Zadvydas came to the U.S. at age 8, never became a citizen, and was convicted of robberies. Cambodian Kim Ma was convicted of manslaughter in a gang shooting.

Justice and INS officials Thursday said of the 3,400 people affected by the ruling, 2,800 are considered a risk to the community because they had committed violent crimes or multiple felonies. The other 600 were viewed a flight risks who would fail to show up for judicial proceedings in their cases.

"Among these criminal aliens are hundreds of sexual predators, including a rapist and serial child molester, hundreds of drug traffickers, and hundreds of violent criminals, including murderers," Ashcroft said.

Officials in Washington said that while Cubans are among those whose freedom is at stake, the court's order specifically excludes the Mariel boatlift prisoners because they technically did not legally enter the United States are considered "excludables" rather than "deportables."

Ashcroft issued an order to the INS to draft and present to him regulations by July 31 that would set forth procedures for the detainees to present claims that they should be released because there is no likelihood of being deported.

If an alien already has been detained for more than six months, he would be released unless there are special circumstances. Exceptions can be made for terrorists or others who represent a threat to national security and certain individuals who qualify as "specially dangerous" due to mental conditions.