U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ramped up activities in sanctuary areas – cities and states that ignore legal detainer requests.
ICE reported Wednesday that they arrested 5 illegal aliens who had pending charges in New York after local officials had failed to honor detainer requests.
“An Indian national, who has pending charges for assault, forcible touching, sexual abuse and harassment, is among five aliens from as many countries recently arrested in the New York-metropolitan area after detainers filed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s were ignored.” ICE said in a statement.
As the detainers were ignored, the agency had to send agents out to perform at-large arrests which are more dangerous for everyone involved.
“At-large criminal alien arrests are among the most dangerous types of enforcement actions ICE officers are engaged in on a daily basis. These arrests also represent the greatest risk to the community. This level of unnecessary risk can be mitigated in many instances,” said Thomas R. Decker, field office director for ERO New York. “As Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan has made clear, ICE will continue to dedicate more resources to conduct at-large arrests to ensure the safety of the law-abiding citizens of these communities.”
The New York arrests come after a sweep of nearly 450 aliens in sanctuary city raids last month.
Detainers serve as a legally-authorized request, upon which a law enforcement agency may rely, to continue to maintain custody of an alien for up to 48 hours so that ICE may assume custody for removal purposes. Pursuant to ICE policy, all ICE detainers are submitted with an accompanying administrative arrest warrant or warrant of removal depending upon the circumstances of the individual case.
The arrests occurred in Elmhurst, Brooklyn, Westchester County, Flushing and Yonkers.
The aliens have criminal charges and/or convictions for assault, forcible touching, sexual abuse, drug possession, criminal possession of a weapon, illegal re-entry, and other immigration charges.
70 percent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in 2017 were of convicted criminals. Of the remaining individuals not convicted of a crime, approximately 70 percent have either been charged with a crime, are an immigration fugitive, or have been removed from the United States and illegally re-entered – reflecting the agency’s continued prioritization of its limited enforcement resources on aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.
