Norwich _ U.S. senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy along with U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, called on the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general Tuesday to investigate the case of Jean Jacques, a Haitian national accused of killing a Norwich woman on June 15 after serving a 16-year prison sentence for attempted murder.

Survivors of 25-year-old Casey Chadwick were outraged that Jacques, 41, convicted of a violent felony, was not deported to Haiti after he was released from prison to immigration officials in 2012. He was briefly detained again after a parole violation in 2014 but was again released. Chadwick's mother, Wendy Hartling, has said she is on a mission to fix deportation policies.

Blumenthal, addressing the matter briefly during a tour Tuesday morning of the United Community & Family Services building in Norwich, said he had been in contact with officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and believes the agency is withholding information.

"ICE made a deadly, inexcusable and unexplained mistake, and they have some serious questions to answer and have not done so yet. We need to make sure this never happens again," Murphy said in an email.

Later Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Courtney's office provided a letter, dated Tuesday, that he and the two senators wrote to John Roth, inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security. The letter said ICE had asked the Haitian government to accept Jacques three separate times while he was being held, but when Haitian officials denied Jacques' nationality, ICE repeatedly failed to secure additional documentation.

"Jacques was never made available to be interviewed by Haitian officials who could have confirmed his background and nationality," the letter says. "And, ICE officials never communicated with Jacques' friends or relatives in Haiti or otherwise attempted to secure replacement identification documents."

Immigration officials said Jacques was set free when they could not obtain the birth records needed to deport him. ICE's authority to detain individuals is limited by a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision outlined in Zadvydas v. Davis, which limits the detention of aliens to six months but indicates ICE "may" hold them longer if there is clear and convincing evidence the person is dangerous.

The letter calls on Roth to immediately investigate what additional steps should have been taken in the Jacques case, who should be held accountable for failing to do so and what changes ICE should make in its repatriation procedures.

"It is unconscionable that ICE failed to remove a convicted attempted murderer subject to a final deportation order," the letter says. "It appears that ICE could and should have taken simple additional steps that might have resulted in Jacques being repatriated and therefore never given the opportunity murder Casey Chadwick," the letter says.

Jacques, 41, has been held in lieu of $1.1 million bond on a murder charge since Norwich police charged him with fatally stabbing Chadwick at her apartment on Spaulding Street on June 15 and leaving her body in a closet. New London Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein has scheduled a Jan. 12 hearing of probable cause to determine whether the state has enough evidence to prosecute him.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN