Immigration detainers – the documents federal immigration officials use to alert state and local law enforcement that they intend to take custody of a criminal alien for immigration violations once they’ve served their time in prison – have reportedly dropped by roughly 75 percent under President Joe Biden, meaning fewer dangerous illegal aliens are being removed…and more are being put back on our streets.
According to this, the number of ICE detainers issued to law enforcement agencies across the country fell from about 10,000 a month to only 2,500 a month since Biden’s inauguration in January, according to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. And it’s not because the feds don’t have the money.
Brnovich is now heading up and investigation into the issue, including deposing top immigration officials including Albert Carter, formerly the acting Phoenix Field Office director for ICE, the Washington Examiner notes. Per a transcript of the interview, Carter admitted the massive drop in detainers is due to administration policy, not a lack of funding.
Carter added the change will “absolutely” harm local communities by allowing dangerous criminal aliens back onto the streets instead of being deported per federal law.
Brnovich added that based on thousands of documents he’s been able to review, “it shows you that they are getting orders from the Biden administration not to go out and arrest people and deport them.”
“It’s clear from the emails and at least this first deposition that ICE officials are frustrated, but basically their hands are tied behind their backs,” he said. “They are being forced to fight a war under rules of engagement that are unfair to law enforcement."
The detainer process was already an uphill battle, with many so-called “sanctuary cities” and states refusing to honor the detainers, which request that a local jurisdiction notify ICE within several days of a criminal alien’s release from custody so immigration officials can take over from there and place the person in deportation proceedings. Many illegal aliens released despite being issued an ICE detainer have gone on to commit violent and heinous crimes against American citizens and other immigrants, including a 30-year-old Mexican national arrested on drug charges who then went on to commit murder and a 23-year-old who was arrested 10 times for various crimes ranging from vehicle theft, burglary, and evading police, who was released despite a detainer and went on to be arrested for rape.
While the number of illegal aliens streaming across the Southwest U.S. border continues at a record pace, CNN previously reported in early April that the number of immigration arrests and deportations has plummeted under the new Biden administration, which claims it is now focusing on dangerous criminals who pose a threat to Americans - a claim that doesn't seem to jive with the drastic reduction in ICE detainers lodged against those very criminals.