Over the course of the four-year Biden-Harris administration, more than 22,000 criminal migrants, who were sought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation, were released by so-called "sanctuary cities," according to a recent review of federal records.
As reported by The Washington Examiner, these cities, which have been criticized for their disregard of immigration laws, released 22,040 illegal immigrants from jail into communities rather than transferring them to ICE between 2021 and 2024. Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, who released the findings, stated that this figure represents approximately 6% to 7% of those sought nationally by ICE for deportation.
Vaughan has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to determine where these illegal immigrants were released. She expressed her concern over the situation, stating, Its bad enough that the Biden policies have allowed so many criminals to come into our country, but its downright absurd that so many local officials deliberately release them back into the community after theyve committed crimes instead of letting ICE send them back home. No wonder we have a migrant crime wave.
Throughout their administration, neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris have made efforts to compel liberal sanctuary cities, counties, and states to cooperate with ICE and comply with their requests for criminal migrants. ICE prefers to apprehend the illegal immigrants from the jails they are held in, as this is safer than tracking them down in neighborhoods.
Government reports indicate that about a quarter of the illegal immigrants released from jail by sanctuaries go on to commit further crimes. Vaughans report highlighted the gravity of the situation, stating, Each declined detainer represents a deportable criminal alien who was released back into the community and given the opportunity to prey on more victims.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to initiate a roundup of the most dangerous criminal migrants on his first day back in the White House, a move that has garnered widespread approval across America. His newly appointed border czar, former acting ICE Director Tom Homan, has advocated for forcing sanctuaries to cooperate and has already suggested punishments that could prompt a change in their approach to ICE detainer requests.
Vaughan suggested that Homan and his team will need to find ways to restore cooperation with some of the sanctuary jurisdictions or work around them with a lot of fugitive operations. However, she also emphasized the need for legislative action, stating, But since many of the die-hard sanctuaries will never change voluntarily, Congress should move to impose penalties on all of the noncooperative jurisdictions and create some kind of legal recourse for victims who suffer serious harm from criminal aliens who were released by sanctuaries. This highlights the urgent need for a more robust and effective approach to immigration enforcement in the United States.
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