Paul Pelosi has been released from the hospital Thursday, and his wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is expecting a "long recovery" and requests "privacy" for the family.
"Paul is grateful to the 911 operator, emergency responders, trauma care team, ICU staff, and the entire ZSFGH medical staff for their excellent and compassionate life-saving treatment he received after the violent assault in our home," Speaker Pelosi wrote in a statement.
"Paul remains under doctors' care as he continues to progress on a long recovery process and convalescence. He is now home surrounded by his family who request privacy."
Pelosi was allegedly brutally attacked by David DePape, 42, who the Department of Homeland Security confirmed was in the country illegally for decades.
Two officers who raced to the home last Friday after Paul Pelosi called 911 witnessed him being struck in the head by a hammer at least once, according to court documents. Officials said the assault was captured on the officers' body cameras.
"The Pelosi family is thankful for the beautiful outpouring of love, support and prayers from around the world," Speaker Pelosi's statement added.
The Canadian man accused of breaking into the couple's San Francisco home and attacking her husband with a hammer should have been flagged by immigration officials and blocked from getting back into the U.S. after overstaying his authorized entry more than two decades ago, a federal official said Thursday.
DePape legally entered the United States in 2000 and later left the country and returned a few times, including entering in March 2008 at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing, said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Most Canadians are not required to obtain a visa to enter the U.S. as tourists and can stay for up to six months. The official said it was unclear why U.S. authorities admitted DePape after he overstayed his entry in 2000.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions about DePape's entry to the United States after he violated immigration law. It acknowledged in a statement DePape was allowed into San Diego from Tijuana on March 8, 2008, but did not address any other entries.
San Francisco police said DePape confronted Paul Pelosi in the family's Pacific Heights home Oct. 28 and demanded to know where the House speaker was. DePape pleaded not guilty to state charges Tuesday and was ordered held without bail. His public defender, Adam Lipson, said he looks forward to providing him with a "vigorous legal defense."
DePape faces state charges of attempted murder, burglary, and elder abuse. He also faces federal charges including attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official. His state case will continue Friday, though the defendant will not appear in the courtroom. An arraignment on federal charges has not been scheduled.
In the state court filing, prosecutors detailed the attack in stark terms, saying Paul Pelosi, 82, was knocked unconscious by the hammer attack and woke up in a pool of his own blood.
DePape grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, but relocated to California to be with a girlfriend, stepfather Gene DePape told The Associated Press last week. He has three children with two women, he said. Gene DePape said the suspect had lived with him in Canada until he was 14 and had been a quiet boy.
DePape's ex-girlfriend, Oxane "Gypsy" Taub, told the San Francisco Chronicle she met DePape in Hawaii in 2000. The pair lived in Berkeley and had two children during their 15-year relationship.
U.S. officials have long struggled to quantify — let alone track down — people who enter the country legally and overstay visas, believed to be about 40% of the population who are in the country illegally.
There were 684,499 visa overstays from October 2019 through September 2020 among visitors who arrived by plane or ship — more than the population of Vermont or Wyoming — according to the Department of Homeland Security's latest annual report. The total number of overstays is much larger but has not been quantified because it does not include how many people arrive by land, the primary way for Canadians and Mexicans to enter the United States.
The cost and technological hurdles to develop a checkout system at congested land crossings with Canada and Mexico are enormous. In the 12-month period through September 2020, more than 52,000 Canadians who came to the U.S. by air or sea had overstayed their legally authorized entry.
Despite the challenges, the U.S. official said DePape's overstay should have been noted in immigration records, which, in theory, should have prevented authorities from admitting him.
Information from The Associated Press was used throughout this report.
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