The acting deputy secretary took particular umbrage with cities and localities that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), making it more difficult to arrest and deport illegal aliens accused of heinous crimes.
Following months of national media coverage over the handling of illegal aliens in his custody, Montgomery County, Maryland, Executive Marc Elrich has somewhat reversed a sanctuary policy he signed into law.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to quash California’s migrant sanctuary law, which broadly prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, blamed conservative media, the White House and a top immigration official Thursday for drawing attention to a recent spate of sexual assaults carried out by illegal aliens.
State legislatures and the U.S. Justice Department should challenge local governments’ sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants, said Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Newly-released information shows that the New York Police Department denied thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests over a one-year timespan.
“It’s incredulous that it’s OK for these law enforcement agencies and these jurisdictions to enforce the laws that they’re sworn to uphold, but when we come in to do our enforcement that we’re sworn to uphold, all the sudden it’s a problem,” he said.
Supporters of open borders and sanctuary policies must be overjoyed by the latest report from the Department of Homeland Security. The Border Patrol intercepted more than 144,000 illegal aliens at the southwest border in May, the largest monthly total in more than a dozen years.
Another Rhode Island town declared itself a Second Amendment sanctuary, claiming its citizens will maintain their right to bears arms even if state lawmakers pass legislation enforcing further restrictions.
While a total of 14 states now permit police or civilians to seek court orders that would seize guns from people deemed threatening, counties in other states are standing their ground.
Civil and immigrant rights groups announced they are suing the Homeland Security secretary, ICE agents and Vermont’s DMV commissioner over immigration enforcement practices in Vermont.
Vermont seems likely to keep losing these annual grants unless one side or the other gives way, or a federal judge requires immediate action.