The chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary panels on Monday demanded an explanation from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johsnon of how an accused serial rapist managed to return to the United States after five separate deportations in just three years.

In the most recent incident, police in Austin, Texas, arrested Nicodemo Coria-Gonzales last month on charges of aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and other offenses after a woman told authorities that he tried to set her on fire. According to Fox 7, investigators determined that he had sexually assaulted several women in a secluded area.

“It is astonishing that Coria-Gonzales has been deported at least five times by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to investigators.”

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“It is astonishing that Coria-Gonzales has been deported at least five times by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to investigators,” Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) wrote in their letter to Johnson.

The letter notes that Coria-Gonzales’ previous criminal history includes three charges of driving while intoxicated and that he confessed to several crimes, including picking up prostitutes and beating them out of anger, they wrote.

“We want to know how such a dangerous individual could be allowed to continually reenter the country illegally and continue his criminal conduct without intervention by ICE,” they said in the letter.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, in response to a question from LifeZette, stated in an email that federal authorities placed a hold on Coria-Gonzales with the Travis County Jail on Aug. 13 after learning of his five deportations to Mexico between September 2012 and July of last year.

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“As a convicted criminal, Mr. Coria-Gonzalez is an ICE enforcement priority,” the ICE statement reads. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)  remains focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes threats to national security, public safety and border security as laid out in Secretary Johnson’s November 2014 memo.”

Grassley and Goodlatte asked for a response from Johnson by Sept. 21. They requested the defendant’s full immigration file, information about every encounter with U.S. immigration agencies, records of any previous detentions and arrests by local police. They also asked if a local jurisdiction ever had refused to honor a hold from federal authorities, whether Coria-Gonzales is a member of a gang and whether ICE officials have followed up by contacting any of the victims of his previous crimes.

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In addition, the lawmakers asked Johnson if Coria-Gonzales would have met the criteria to be considered a “priority for removal” if ICE agents had encountered him prior to the most recent arrest on assault and kidnapping charges.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump launched his campaign last year by decrying crimes committed by illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Despite prioritizing the deportation of convicted criminal, records show that the government each year releases thousands of illegal immigrants who have been convicted of felonies.

In an analysis of ICS statistics provided to Congress earlier year, the Center for Immigration Studies calculated that the agency released 9,723 illegal immigrants who had been convicted of crimes. Those immigrants collectively committed 64,197 offenses, including 208 homicide convictions, more than 900 sex offenses and 12,307 drunken driving charges.