The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) was forced to issue subpoenas to officials in Connecticut in an effort to obtain information about the whereabouts of criminal aliens arrested in the state. The subpoenas request basic information about three criminal aliens who ICE has identified as threats to the public safety and subject to potential removal.
The three illegal immigrants include a Honduran citizen, convicted of second-degree manslaughter, a Guatemalan national, convicted of burglary and robbery charges, and a citizen from the Dominican Republic convicted of narcotics possession with the intent to sell. The criminal aliens were released by the State of Connecticut Department of Corrections despite active detainers logged by ICE in all three cases.
In a statement, ICE acknowledges the agency has not historically issued subpoenas in order to obtain basic information about criminal aliens. But with sanctuary policies in places like Connecticut, law enforcement agencies no longer cooperate with federal immigration authorities and the lack of cooperation threatens public safety.
Recently, ICE issued immigration subpoenas to other sanctuary jurisdictions, including New York City, Denver and Colorado. ICE warns that if local law enforcement agencies ignore a subpoena from ICE, an immigration officer can coordinate with the U.S. Attorney's Office to compel production of the issued subpoena.