The Tennessee Attorney General's Office has finalized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) plan to release illegal immigrants, including convicted felons, into the state, thanks to efforts by the governor and other state lawmakers. announced that it had been stopped.
State Attorney General Jonathan Scumetti said Wednesday that following the filing of a lawsuit by the AG's office, ICE will provide previously unreleased information about its plans to release thousands of detained immigrants, including convicted felons. He announced that he was forced to do so.
The agency said it had obtained hundreds of pages of documents revealing a since-abandoned plan by federal authorities to potentially transfer thousands of “single adult” immigrant detainees to Tennessee.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scrumetti announced that following a successful lawsuit by the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, ICE has been unable to resolve the agency's previous release of thousands of detained immigrants, including dangerous convicted felons. He announced that he was forced to submit information that had not been made public. (John Michael Larsch/Fox News Digital/AP Photo/George Walker IV)
The findings come as ICE worked with local immigrant rights groups and Nashville officials to release large numbers of detainees to the state before the expected end of the federal government's Section 42 public health order. It all stems from a discovery made in the governor's office in 2022 when he learned of this. .
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ICE has been forced to submit previously unreleased information about its plans to release thousands of immigrants in its custody, including convicted criminals. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
“The federal government's single most important job is to keep dangerous people out of our country, but instead we allow murderers and rapists to illegally cross our borders and walk freely on our streets,” Scumetti said in a statement. I've come,'' he said.
Records show ICE's plan to release immigrants into Tennessee stalled after pushback from Republican Gov. Bill Lee and Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, and ultimately the state attorney general. A successful lawsuit by the firm shows it was blocked.
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The agency said this information caused ICE to abandon its failed plan to mass release detainees to Tennessee, but it was still releasing more than 7,000 detainees directly from its Louisiana facility at the time. , said it further revealed that the group included more than 30 people assigned to ICE maximum security. -Threat level.
Central American migrants cross the southern border fence into the United States from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. (Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images)
Records show the released detainees also had criminal histories including murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, kidnapping, alien smuggling, drug trafficking, robbery, and fraud.
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“As urgent work continues in Washington to repair our broken immigration system, my office will continue to fight for transparency and accountability,” Scumetti said.
this is, Department of Homeland Security On Wednesday, the FBI recommended that more than 100 immigrants it identified as having possible ties to Venezuelan gangs be placed on the FBI's watch list after the bureau reported more than 600 possible ties overall. announced that it was doing so.
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But officials do not believe all 600 immigrants will be confirmed as gang members, saying many will be relatives, victims or witnesses of crimes committed by notorious gang members. .
ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
