There has a been a sharp increase in the number of so-called “sanctuary cities” for President Joe Biden’s illegal migrants, according to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies.
Sanctuary areas are defined as “state and local jurisdictions that have laws, ordinances, policies, or practices that prevent state and/or law enforcement agencies from cooperating fully with ICE in gaining custody of criminal aliens who have been arrested for local crimes,” the organization explains.
“These localities seem to be flouting state law, and there should be consequences if they do not reverse the policy right away,” said Jessica M. Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
According to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 170 new jurisdictions have been added to the sanctuary map maintained by the Center for Immigration Studies.
CIS has maintained the sanctuary map since 2015 after the organization filed a Freedom of Information Act request and was granted access to ICE data.
The organization has identified at least 425 jurisdictions that qualify as sanctuary areas for illegals, which represents a 40 percent surge over the previous accounting.
Added to the map are new locations in Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, and Minnesota.
Some of the new listings include:
- North Dakota has been listed as a state, as none of its 24 corrections facilities cooperates fully with ICE.
- Virginia has 27 additional counties and nine cities now listed.
- Nebraska has 21 additional counties and one city listed.
- New York has 13 additional counties listed.
- Minnesota has 12 additional counties or regional corrections centers listed.
- Jurisdictions were added in six states that have anti-sanctuary 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 that many illegals are arrested multiple times for crimes but let go, only to be arrested again instead of taken into custody by immigration officials for deportation.
“Over the years, more than 10,000 criminal aliens have been released by local authorities due to sanctuary policies, and many of these criminal aliens have subsequently been arrested for additional crimes,” the CIS report notes. Vaughan said:
It is alarming to see the continued proliferation of sanctuary policies, especially in places like Virginia, where ICE has had to use its scarce resources to re-arrest violent gang members and rapists in our communities who were set free by local jails, when they should have been transferred directly to ICE custody for a plane ride home.
CIS wrote:
There is no good excuse or legal basis for these non-cooperation policies, which in many places have been adopted for political reasons. We have assisted a number of state and local officials in reversing sanctuary policies, and others should re-examine them in the wake of nearly four years of disastrous border policies that have waved in millions of unvetted migrants.
The report points out some of the recent examples of migrants becoming dangerous repeat offenders after being released by sanctuary jurisdictions.
- Fairfax County, Va., police arrested a Honduran man in July 2023 for a child sex crime. He was released by the county jail despite an ICE detainer. In February 2024, Fairfax police arrested him again on four more counts of child sex crimes, and again the jail released him on $10,000 bond. In April 2024, ICE sent a team of officers to arrest the offender at his home in Bladensburg, Md., stating that he would be kept in ICE custody until his proceedings are complete.
- In May 2023, police in Chelsea, Mass. arrested a Guatemalan man for operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor (fourth offense), possession of a Class B controlled substance, giving a false address with intent to hinder police, and operating a motor vehicle without a license. The man had been deported previously in May 2021 following a four-year spree of at least nine convictions for drug distribution, drunk driving, and reckless child endangerment. Despite two detainers and an order of removal, the Suffolk County jail in Boston released him. ICE officers arrested him on July 8, 2024, near his home in Chelsea, and he is reportedly still in custody.
- A Venezuelan man who was arrested seven times on 19 different charges within his first two months after arriving in New York City, including random violent attacks on strangers and police officers, and who is a suspected gang member, finally drew the attention of ICE officers, who obtained permission to file a detainer in September, 2023. The New York city jail ignored the detainer and released the man again. He was arrested two more times in the next two months (for disorderly conduct and larceny), and was ordered deported in June 2024, but reportedly remains in ICE custody due to a halt in deportations to Venezuela.
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