North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis (R) penned letters to Attorney General Bill Barr and Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf requesting information on jurisdictions in his state that are declining to follow Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) protocols. Immigration detainers issued by ICE compel local law enforcement to detain an individual who circumvented the immigration system until federal authorities can incarcerate and deport them.
“The circumstances of this operation are a reminder that, despite the best efforts of your agency, there are states and municipalities across the nation interfering with your ability to defend public safety,” Senator Tillis wrote to Acting Secretary Wolf. “These sanctuary cities serve as magnets for dangerous criminal aliens who wish to escape justice. In defiance of law and logic, sanctuary jurisdictions like Mecklenburg County refuse to honor ICE detainers, refuse to share information about criminal aliens in custody, and will release these dangerous individuals back out onto the streets.”
Sen. Tillis pointed to the dangerous crimes committed by many of the individuals arrested by ICE, exposing the threat that they pose to public safety:
“These dangerous criminals were charged with crimes including assault on a female, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious bodily injury, driving under the influence, breaking and entering, and larceny,” he wrote in a tweet.
The North Carolina Republican writes to the pair of federal department heads after he introduced the Immigration Detainer Enforcement Act, which would further establish DHS’s authority to issue detainers, define state and local authorities’ duty to maintain custody for individuals for whom detainers have been issued, and encourages cooperation between local authorities and DHS. The legislation was a follow-up to the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act, also introduced by Sen. Tillis, that would both hold sanctuary cities accountable for failing to comply with detainer requests and allow victims of illegal immigrant crime in sanctuary jurisdictions to seek compensatory damages from the individual jurisdiction.