President Joe Biden’s administration is seeing a surge in the number of so-called “sanctuary cities” that take in undocumented immigrants, according to a report from the Center for Migration Studies.
Sanctuary areas are defined as “state or local jurisdictions that have laws, ordinances, policies or practices that prevent state or local law enforcement agencies from fully cooperating with ICE in the detention of criminal aliens arrested for local crimes,” the group explained.
“These local governments appear to be ignoring state law and should face action if they do not immediately reverse their policies,” said Jessica M. Vaughn, director of policy research at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
According to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 170 new jurisdictions have been established. Added Sanctuary Map maintained by the Center for Migration Studies.
Sanctuary Map Update: Approximately 170 locations added
Some are in states that have anti-conservation lawshttps://t.co/X7KIkK0c8H via translation:
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) August 21, 2024
CIS has been maintaining maps of sanctuary areas since 2015, after filing a Freedom of Information Act request and being granted access to the ICE data.
The organization has identified at least 425 jurisdictions that qualify as sanctuary areas for undocumented immigrants, a 40 percent increase from its previous count.
The map now includes new locations in Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York and Minnesota.
The new list includes:
- North Dakota is on the list as a state because none of its 24 correctional facilities fully cooperate with ICE.
- Virginia now has 27 more counties and nine cities added to the list.
- Nebraska has 21 more counties and one city listed.
- New York has 13 more counties listed.
- Minnesota lists 12 additional county or community corrections centers.
- Jurisdiction was added to six states with anti-sanctions laws: South Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, and North Carolina.
CIS adds that about 17 percent of the nation’s jails refuse to cooperate with ICE, meaning many illegal immigrants are arrested multiple times for crimes but released only to be arrested again rather than being held in immigration custody and deported.
“Over the years, more than 10,000 criminal aliens have been released by local authorities under sanctuary policies, many of whom have subsequently been arrested for further crimes,” the CIS report states.
It is especially disturbing to see sanctuary policies continue to prevail in places like Virginia, where ICE is forced to use scarce resources to rearrest gang members and rapists after their release from local jails who should have been transferred directly to ICE custody and flown home instead.
CIS wrote:
These non-cooperation policies, which in many places have been adopted for political reasons, have no legitimate excuse or legal basis. We have assisted many state and local authorities in overturning sanctuary policies, and after nearly four years of disastrous border policies that have allowed millions of unchecked immigrants into the country, other authorities should also reconsider their sanctuary policies.
The report points to several recent examples of migrants becoming dangerous repeat offenders after being released from sanctuary jurisdictions.
- Fairfax County Police in Virginia arrested a Honduran man for child sex crimes in July 2023. He was released from the county jail despite an ICE detention order. In February 2024, Fairfax Police rearrested him for four more child sex crimes, and again the jail released him on $10,000 bail. In April 2024, ICE sent a team of officers to arrest the perpetrator at his home in Bladensburg, Maryland, and said he would be held in ICE custody until the process was completed.
- In May 2023, police in Chelsea, Massachusetts arrested a Guatemalan man on suspicion of DUI (fourth offense), possession of a Class B controlled substance, false address with intent to obstruct police, and driving without a license. The man had been deported in May 2021 after a four-year criminal streak that included at least nine convictions for drug trafficking, DUI, and reckless child endangerment. Despite two detentions and removal orders, the Suffolk County Jail in Boston released him. ICE officers arrested him near his Chelsea home on July 8, 2024, and he reportedly remains in custody.
- A Venezuelan man who was arrested seven times within the first two months of his arrival in New York City on 19 charges, including random violence against strangers and police officers, and who was a suspected gang member, finally attracted the attention of ICE officials, who obtained a detention authorization in September 2023. The New York City jail ignored the detention authorization and released the man again. He was arrested two more times in the next two months (for disturbance of peace and theft) and ordered deported in June 2024, but is reportedly in ICE custody since his deportation to Venezuela was halted.
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