ICE: Sanctuary Cities Freed 10,000 Aliens to Commit Crimes

Politicians and police chiefs in sanctuary cities say their policies make for safer communities by encouraging illegal aliens to report crimes without fear of deportation.

Turns out that criminal aliens are getting free passes, too, making those communities much more dangerous.

“Nearly 10,000 criminal aliens that have been released [in sanctuary cities], rather than turned over to ICE, have recommitted other crimes,” said Thomas Homan, acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Earlier this week, President Trump nominated Homan to be ICE’s permanent director.)

That’s 10,000 crimes that could – and should — have been prevented, easily and lawfully.

Revealing the startling figure in an interview with Fox News, Homan singled out Chicago.

“Chicago has the highest crime rate they’ve had in years. Are they doing everything they can to prevent it? I say no. Cook County Jail doesn’t accept our detainers, so criminal aliens go back onto the street to re-offend,” Homan said.

Homan said the repeat-offender rate among criminal aliens runs as high as 75 percent.

“I would think Chicago would do everything they can to work with me to remove these people from the communities and from the country,” he said.

ICE has identified 118 jurisdictions as actively thwarting federal immigration agents. FAIR puts the total number of sanctuaries at more than 300.

One of the most heinous sanctuary crimes involved a Mexican illegal alien  who allegedly killed a woman in San Francisco in 2015. Though deported several times after committing previous offenses, the criminal alien was shielded by the city’s sanctuary law. He is currently on trial for murder.

Meantime, the newly declared “sanctuary state” of California reduced its maximum sentencing for misdemeanor crimes by one day to 364 days. This circumvents federal laws, which provide for the deportation of immigrants with sentences of 365 days or more.

Rather than wait for Chicago and other crime-abetting sanctuaries to come around, ICE launched Operation Safe City. In September, federal agents hit the streets to arrest hundreds of illegal aliens in 10 jurisdictions. Among those scooped up were immigrants with criminal convictions, pending criminal charges, known gang members, immigration fugitives and illegal re-entrants.

Homan says the “surge” will continue as long as cities remain noncompliant. ICE did not respond to FAIR’s request for data detailing Homan’s figure of 10,000 recidivist aliens.

Sanctuary jurisdictions and civil liberties groups have been quiet because they don’t have a legal leg to stand on. Federal law — 8-USC-1324 – states that harboring, concealing or shielding illegal aliens from law enforcement is a crime.

While the U.S. Justice Department strives to bring sanctuary cities in line with the law, politicized local police departments look the other way. Homan says they have another think coming.

“If they think they’re going to skirt the law by releasing [criminal aliens]into the community, I’m going to send additional officers. We will find these people, take them into custody and remove them from the country,” he said.