Albert Carter, who served as the Acting Phoenix Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, admitted during a deposition that immigration policies put in place by the Biden administration are jeopardizing public safety.
The deposition was part of Arizona and Montana's ongoing lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security that is attempting to halt such Biden administration policies.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich discovered—through his office's lawsuit–interior ICE arrests have dropped nearly 50 percent. The reduction in ICE arrests correlates with the significant decrease in deportations after new priorities were given regarding who ICE would seek to take into custody.
"What the Biden administration is calling 'interim guidance' is really an attempt to undermine and abolish ICE through administrative acts. What the documents we've seen thus far reveal is that there have been nearly 8,000 dangerous individuals...released into our communities," Brnovich previously told Townhall.
During his deposition, Carter testified criminal warrants, at-large arrests, removals, and immigration detainers were "absolutely" important to public safety, adding that reducing these missions will likely harm public safety:
Question: Okay. Is the mission of lodging immigration detainers important to public safety in the communities where those aliens are located?
Carter: I would say yes, sir, absolutely.
Question: Will reducing the lodging of immigration detainers likely harm public safety for communities in which the aliens are ultimately released?
Mr. Gardner: Objection, calls for speculation.
Carter: I would say absolutely.
ICE has cited being resource-limited as one reason for the decrease in interior arrests. But Carter said, from his position as field office director, he does not believe "resource constraints" are the reason for the significant reduction in arrests.