Over just three months this year, New York City, which acts as a “sanctuary city” for criminal illegal immigrants, released 440 “dangerous” offenders sought for deportation, and 10 percent went on to commit more crime, according to a new review.
The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, in focusing on New York City, notorious for ignoring ICE demands for jailed illegals since 2014, said that from January to mid-April the city shrugged off 440 requests.
And, said ICE, “nearly 40 individuals who were released from custody, reoffended and were again arrested for crimes by local law enforcement officers.”
The Trump administration has gone to war over sanctuary city policies adopted in over 300 communities. ICE claims that it is being forced to conduct raids in immigrant communities and on worksites to find the criminals in cities that fail to honor their detainer requests.
ICE officials said that making arrests outside of jails greatly increases the danger chances to agents.
“The politics and rhetoric in this city are putting its own communities at an unnecessary risk,” said Scott Mechowski, an ICE official in New York.
“ICE has no choice but to continue to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, wasting valuable resources on criminal aliens who could be securely turned over to ICE custody at jails and prisons. However, ICE remains committed to its public safety mission and will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” he added.
The Center for Immigration Studies suggested that to combat the high number of releases of criminal illegals, ICE may be forced to conduct mass raids as it has in Chicago and Philadelphia.
In a statement released Monday, ICE said, “Sanctuary policies, which have pushed ICE out of jails, force our officers to conduct more enforcement in the community – which poses increased risks for law enforcement and the public. It also increases the likelihood that ICE will encounter other illegal aliens who previously were not on our radar. For ICE, it makes more sense to devote resources to jails to solely focus on criminals, reducing the broader enforcement efforts and allowing the apprehension of individuals with the secure confines of local jails.”
