Cities and counties that refuse to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “put politics before public safety” and increase the likelihood people in those areas will either get hurt or victimized.
This, according a recent news release ICE put on its website.
As The Tennessee Star has reported, members of one influential Nashville group want city officials to no longer cooperate with ICE. Nashville-Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall recently announced his office will no longer contract to house ICE detainees under an agreement with the US. Marshals.
But ICE officials say that’s misguided.
“Sanctuary policies leave ICE with no choice but to increase enforcement in neighborhoods and workplaces to locate and arrest these persons while they are at-large – increasing the likelihood that other individuals previously not targeted for arrest will be taken into ICE custody,” according to ICE.
“It is safer for everyone if ICE takes custody of an alien in the controlled environment of another law enforcement agency as opposed to visiting an alien’s residence, place of work, or other public area. Arresting a criminal in the safety, security, and privacy of a jail is always the best option.”
ICE officials went on to describe what happens when law enforcement agencies don’t honor ICE detainers.
“These individuals, who often have significant criminal histories, are released onto the street, presenting a potential public safety threat,” ICE officials said.
“When ICE Fugitive Operations officers have to go out into the community to proactively locate these criminal aliens, regardless of the precautions they take, it needlessly puts our personnel and potentially innocent bystanders in harm’s way.”
Approximately, 70 percent of ICE arrests happen after ICE is notified that an illegal alien is released from local jails or state prisons. In fiscal year 2019, ICE lodged more than 160,000 detainers with local law enforcement agencies, according to ICE.
Nationally, approximately 90 percent of all people arrested by ICE during fiscal year 2019 had a criminal conviction, a pending criminal charge, had illegally re-entered the United States after being previously removed (a federal felony), or were an immigration fugitive subject to a final order of removal, ICE officials added.
As The Star reported last summer, members of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition put out a manifesto describing how they want Metro Nashville officials to treat illegal immigrants, and it demands taxpayers subsidize new programs to protect them from deportation.
This document, titled, Beyond Welcoming: A Platform for Immigrant Inclusion for the Next Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County, also disparages ICE agents as persecutors who set out to destroy immigrant families.
Then there’s Sheriff Hall’s plan to no longer house ICE detainees.
A sheriff’s spokeswoman said ICE detention officers will know when someone is released, and ICE will have an opportunity to pick the detainee up prior to they’re getting released from jail.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
To William Delzell . You forgot about the 18 year old nanny who was raped in broad daylight , near Percy Priest Lake , by an illegal alien from Honduras. He raped her while she was watching two children. The “thug” was later implicated in another rape.
Dont pay any attention to Delzell folks. His only intention is to play the devil’s advocate to shock those with common sense and moral integrity. He’s lost and wanting someone to talk to, even if what he “claims” he believes in is so outlandish and juvenile. You never get anywhere arguing with a child. Best ignore them and eventually they’ll stop acting out.
Most I.C.E. officials are right-wing racist thugs who especially enjoy breaking up families with little children. This is exactly what antebellum slavery did. Hearing stories about I.C.E. molesting little children under its custody is just as horrific about hearing allegations that D.E.A. and Reagan’s Contras supplying most of the crack that plagued U.S. inner cities.
What a bigoted, sweeping statement to make. What are your sources for saying I.C.E. enjoys breaking up families with little children? That agents molest little children? And to compare illegal aliens to slaves from a time of over a 150 years ago in our history is ridiculous.
The illegal alien parents of these children broke the law to come here and use our social services to the detriment of the elderly, the poor, the handicapped and former disabled military who are all citizens of our country. And then there’s the matter of safety when illegal criminals are flooding in like a broken sewerage drain. But you ignore those facts, trying to make an appeal to our emotions but your arguments are specious.
I’m so over your “progressive” victim pity-party, William. Especially when I see the flags of Mexico and other Central American countries and posters celebrating revolutionaries who hate the United States hanging on walls in restaurants here.
Either enforce the law or the public will suffer the consequences.. Liberal politics is dangerous to all, but the politicians do not care, they just want to mouth their insane policies to get a vote and the crazies will follow.