Attacker should have been blocked from entry: Official

The Canadian man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’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 US after overstaying his authorised entry more than two decades ago, a federal official said yesterday. David DePape, 42, 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 US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter. Paul Pelosi was released from the hospital yesterday, six days after he was severely beaten by an intruder inside the couple’s San Francisco home. Speaker Pelosi said her husband ‘‘remains under doctors’ care as he continues to progress on a long recovery process and convalescence.’’