An Immigration and Customs Enforcement report puts a damper on the argument that sanctuary cities aren’t a problem because they only shield non-violent illegal immigrants.
Sanctuary city proponents often say their policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities don’t endanger public safety. As ICE’s latest weekly declined detainer report shows, however, many county and city law enforcement agencies regularly release criminal aliens who have been convicted of violent crimes, including domestic battery and sexual assault.
The report, which covers February 4-10, tallied 47 declined detainer requests from two dozen jurisdictions across the country.
New York City accounted for 12 of those rejections, far more than any other jurisdiction. Among those illegal aliens released by New York jails were several who had been charged or convicted of violent crimes.
Virginia had the second most declined detainers with six, followed by Washington state, with five. Jails in both states released illegal aliens with convictions for assault, domestic violence and DUI.
This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice would withhold federal grant money from sanctuary jurisdictions. President Donald Trump’s January executive order on interior immigration enforcement, which is now facing legal challenges from Seattle and San Francisco, instructed the attorney general to “ensure that jurisdictions that willfully refuse to comply with 8 U.S.C. 1373 (sanctuary jurisdictions) are not eligible to receive Federal grants.” (RELATED: Seattle Sues Trump Over His Crackdown On Sanctuary Cities)
Between February 4 and February 10, ICE issued 2,285 detainer requests nationwide. Of those, 540 were sent to 10 jurisdictions that ICE says “do not comply with detainers on a routine basis.” Those 10 counties are:
- Los Angeles, California
- New York, New York
- Kern, California
- Clark, Nevada
- San Diego, California
- Orange, California
- San Bernardino, California
- Santa Barbara, California
- Travis, Texas
- King, Washington
“Consistent with these counties’ policies, ICE expects these detainers to reflect as declined in … future weekly reports,” the report said.
Read the full report here.
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