ICE Is Creating A Sanctuary For Criminals: County Sheriff

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is no longer publishing its weekly report of law enforcement agencies they say do not cooperate with requests to detain undocumented immigrants "due to a pattern of significant errors," Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said Tuesday. The Declined Detainer Outcome Report was mandated by President Trump via executive order. ICE's website describes it as "a weekly report that shows those jurisdictions with the highest volume of declined detainers, and includes a list of sample crimes associated with those released individuals."

Previously, Stanek said the first ICE report, which came out last month, was inaccurate. Later, on March 30, Stanek and several other sheriffs traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with Acting Under Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Chip Fulghum and Executive Associate Director for ICE Philip Miller to express their concerns.

"ICE is creating a sanctuary for criminals in Hennepin County," Stanek continued in a news release Tuesday. "Even when they notify our agency that an inmate is of interest to them, ICE agents pick up only about one-third of the inmates they ask us to detain."

"We have examples of ICE not picking up inmates with a 'Final Order of Removal' a history of violent crime or dozens of arrests, and even inmates who have been in ICE custody several times before," he added.

In addition to the 15 Detainer Requests to the Sheriff's Office during the week three reporting period, an additional inmate was referred to in error, county officials say. The inmate and detainer listed in the “Declined Detainers” section referred to a detainer served to the Sheriff's Office in 2016, more than six months prior to the reporting period.

“It is frustrating when the public is misled about the work of our local Sheriff’s Offices; as elected officials we have no alternative but to publicly set the record straight,” Stanek said. “The men and women who work for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office take great pride in their duties, and that includes enforcing the law while also following it. They deserve an apology; but suspending the inaccurate reporting is the next best thing."

Image via Hennepin County Sheriff's Office