Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Matt Albence said Thursday that nothing encapsulates the issue of sanctuary policies more than Montgomery County, Maryland, where at least nine illegal aliens were arrested on sexual abuse charges in just over a month.
Albence added that he would be “ashamed” to work in law enforcement in Montgomery County in response to a question from the Daily Caller during a press briefing at the White House.
“If I worked in Montgomery County I would be ashamed of the fact that I was turning criminal aliens back out into the street, seeing the criminal histories and the victimization that individuals are causing,” he explained.
County Executive Marc Elrich signed an executive order in July preventing law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers. At least one illegal alien who was accused of child rape in Montgomery County was put back into the community after local authorities failed to properly notify ICE that he was being released from jail.
STORY: In the wake of protests centered on illegal immigration in Maryland’s most populated county, authorities there have arrested an undocumented immigrant for the alleged rape of an intoxicated woman.
This is the ninth case of its kind since July 25.https://t.co/277IlcMkxY
— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) September 18, 2019
Albence indicated that ICE is attempting to work with Elrich to increase cooperation with ICE, but did not reveal any progress they’ve mad in those efforts. (RELATED: Montgomery County Named One Of The Worst ‘Sanctuary Communities’ In The US)
“Look, we work closely with the law enforcement partners as well as elected officials within these cities. We try to find ways to work with them. We’ve had meetings with the commissioner of the county and trying to find ways in which he will cooperate with us so that they don’t turn these dangerous criminals back out onto the streets, but we don’t think anything encapsulates the issue more so than what’s happening in Montgomery County over the last month.”
The county’s policies led to a protest outside of the local courthouse earlier this month by concerned citizens.