During Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” NBC News homeland security correspondent Julia Ainslie said, “If you listened to the Republican National Committee this week, you might think the Biden administration is doing nothing about immigration crime,” but arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are on the rise as sanctuary cities and counties repeal sanctuary policies due to public safety concerns created by Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies.
“If you listen to the Republican National Committee this week, you might think the Biden administration is doing nothing about immigration crime, but in fact, over the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased arrests of immigrants with criminal records by 59 percent. And they say that’s largely because many cities that once had high protection and never told Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they were releasing immigrants with criminal records are now at the table to cooperate,” Ainslie said.
She then played a report on ICE arrests, which included a video of Earl Stoddard, deputy chief administrative officer for Montgomery County, Maryland, talking about why the county has stepped up cooperation with ICE: “Obviously, we want to avoid a situation where the people we release go on to commit even more serious, heinous crimes. So that’s always a concern for us.”
The report also includes a video of ICE Director Patrick Reckleitner explaining the reasons for the review of the sanctuary policy, saying, “Unfortunately, we have seen cases where individuals who have been arrested by local law enforcement because of the policies that have been put in place are then suddenly released and re-offend. We don’t want that to happen.”
Ainslie also said that “we are seeing record numbers of people crossing the border under the Biden administration,” which has led to a surge in ICE caseloads.
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