New York City law enforcement ignored 440 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detainer notices in the last three months according to a report posted June 4 at the Center for Immigration Studies.
According to the ICE report, from January to mid-April of 2018, ICE called on the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and New York Department of Corrections (NYDOC) to ready these hundreds of detainees but received no response from city authorities.
Also, 40 of the detainees, after authorities released them from custody, committed additional crimes and were arrested again.
ICE listed several examples of who New York City authorities released back into the public including a 20-year old from Jamaica who was arrested for Possession of a Weapon back in April. His rap sheet includes arrests for fraud, robbery, and homicide; a 28-year old Salvadoran man arrested for assault in March who was released and later arrested for robbery in April.
A 28-year old man from Azerbaijan, who already had a long criminal conviction rap sheet, was released in February after being arrested for the third time for criminal trespass and then re-arrested in April for Grand Larceny.
“ICE has not been notified about the release of aliens in custody at New York City facilities since 2014, except for those that fall within the 170 crimes considered egregious by the Mayor’s Office,” ICE said in a statement about the detainer requests that went ignored by New York authorities.
The Trump administration has found itself in a legal battle with different states and municipalities over whether local and state officials can shield illegal aliens from federal authorities. One strategy of the administration has been to cut off funding to any city that provides sanctuary to illegal aliens. However, according to recent reports, the Homeland Security Department just authorized $1.7 billion in grants to states, some of which were sent to sanctuary cities.