The document revealed that from Feb. 15 to March 31, 2013, ICE planned to release 1,000 detainees a week, reducing their detainee numbers from 30,748 to 26,748 — well below the 34,000 mandated by Congress, Goodlatte noted.

“An internal document obtained by the House Judiciary Committee shows that Administration officials at ICE prepared cold calculations to release thousands of criminal aliens onto the streets and did not demonstrate any consideration of the impact this decision would have on the safety of Americans,” Goodlatte said in a statement, asserting that the decision “undermines” the Department of Homeland Security’s mission and makes Americans “less safe.”

ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez, however, explained in an emailed statement that ICE law enforcement officials have been working to do the best job they can with the resources allotted to them by Congress.