Could a judge\u2019s release of an ICE-detained illegal immigrant signal trouble for Texas\u2019s anti-sanctuary law?<\/p>\n
U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia freed Julio Trujillo<\/a>, who was held 76 days in Bexar County jail on a detainer requested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cRoutine detention \u2026 made it inevitable that it (the county) would engage in warrantless detention of individuals who were not suspected of any crime,\u201d Garcia wrote in his decision.<\/p>\n Trujillo landed in the San Antonio hoosegow after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend last year. When the assault charges were dropped, Judge Garcia said Trujillo should have been freed \u2013 though under no obligation to leave the U.S. His whereabouts are unknown.<\/p>\n Also unknown is why Trujillo was kept behind bars long after the 48-hour limit that typically applies to detainers.<\/p>\n Without setting deadlines, ICE policy states<\/a> that the agency \u201cplaces detainers on aliens who have been arrested on local criminal charges and for whom ICE possesses probable cause to believe that they are removable from the United States, so that ICE can take custody of the alien when he or she is released from local custody.\u201d<\/p>\n Trujillo \u2013 a Mexican national who re-entered the U.S. illegally after being deported in 2001 \u2013 is now part of a legal challenge to Texas\u2019s Senate Bill 4<\/a>, which requires local jails to honor ICE detainer requests. Judge Garcia will hear that case, too.<\/p>\n Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, who has broken with fellow Democrat sheriffs by cooperating with ICE, won\u2019t talk about Trujillo\u2019s extended detention, which Judge Garcia blamed on a \u201cpaperwork error.\u201d<\/p>\n ICE ducked FAIR\u2019s questions about Trujillo\u2019s case, saying the agency does not comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n