DHS 'Detainer Report' Highlights Denied Requests, 'Uncooperative' Jurisdictions

The Department of Homeland Security issued its first "detainer report" on Monday, listing jurisdictions where local law enforcement agencies decline to detain immigrants subject to deportation at the request of federal authorities.

According to the document, called the Weekly Declined Detainer Outcome Report, between Jan. 28 and Feb. 3, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement databases found that 206 detainer requests had been denied. However, the detainer requests were not issued during that period. Some of the issue dates in the detainer report go back to 2014.

Such "detainers" compel participating jurisdictions to hold people arrested who are suspected of being undocumented for a period of at least 48 hours (longer during weekends or on holidays) to allow ICE agents sufficient time to retrieve those arrested and proceed with deportations. The report was issued in accordance with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January.

Along with the jurisdiction where the detainer was denied, the report lists the crimes associated with the detainer request.

Travis County in Texas, which includes Austin, accounts for 142 of the denied detainers, owing to Sheriff Sally Hernandez's more nuanced approach to local immigration policy that focuses on high-level felons. Still, Hernandez has insisted she does honor ICE requests when accompanied by a court order or judicial warrant.

According to the report, ICE issued 3,083 detainers throughout the country between Jan. 28 and Feb. 3, with 10 jurisdictions that the agency says routinely do not comply with detainer requests receiving the highest number of requests.

"While these counties have a policy of non-cooperation, the outcomes of these specific detainers is yet to be determined," the report states.

While acknowledging that the outcomes of the specific detainers is to be determined, the report said that consistent with the policies of the counties, ICE expects the detainers to reflect as declined in future reports.

The 10 counties identified in the report are:

1. Clark County, Nevada - 51 detainers
2. Nassau County, New York - 38 detainers
3. Cook County, Illinois - 13 detainers
4. Montgomery County, Iowa - 12 detainers
5. Snohomish County, Washington - 12 detainers
6. Franklin County, New York - 9 detainers
7. Washington County, Oregon - 7 detainers
8. Alachua County, Florida - 5 detainers
9. Franklin County, Iowa - 5 detainers
10. Franklin County, Pennsylvania - 5 detainers

Some local law enforcement agencies have taken issue with the characterization by DHS.

Washington County, Orgeon, Sheriff Pat Garrett said the report does not accurately describe the difficulties or potential legal ramifications associated with honoring ICE detainer requests. He cited a 3-year-old court ruling that determined another sheriff's department in the state had violated a woman's constitutional rights by honoring an ICE detainer request. The ruling led to every county in Oregon to immediately stop honoring ICE detainer requests.

"Washington County informed ICE officials that it will honor any warrant or court order to detain a person … (but) will continue to follow the court's clear guidance that these detainer requests are unconstitutional," Garrett said.

The same court ruling also applies to Snohomish County, Washington.

Sheriff Ty Trenary issued a strongly worded statement Tuesday saying that ICE's claim that failure to honor detainer requests undermines the agency's ability to protect public safety, "is simply untrue."

"This unsubstantiated claim is offensive to me and the communities that I and the men and women of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office proudly serve," Trenary said. "If ICE truly felt that these offenders were a danger to society, they would establish probable cause and seek an arrest warrant, just like any other law enforcement agency. Since our policy to no longer honor detainer requests has been in place, ICE has produced zero warrants at our jail."

Trenary said he was baffled why his agency would be listed as a county that has a policy of non-cooperation as it has always worked with ICE when they are conducting a criminal investigation on an inmate in his jurisdiction. He added that not honoring detainer requests had nothing to do with whether Snohomish County is a sanctuary jurisdiction and has to do with following the law.

In Nassau County, New York, where officials allow ICE to have a permanent presence in the county jails and was one of the first departments to agree to accept administrative warrants from the agency, ICE officials have reportedly said the county would be removed from the next report, according to a report in the New York Times.

The Cook County Sheriff's Office in Illinois said a policy enacted by the county board in 2011 prevents the sheriff's office from complying with detainers.

"While the Sheriff's office urged the board to consider an exception for detainers involving violent offenses, no such exception was included in the final ordinance that remains in effect today," the office said in a statement.

The report also lists a number of jurisdictions that have enacted policies that "limit cooperation with ICE." Though some ICE field offices ceased issuing detainers to known uncooperative jurisdictions, the offices have been instructed to issue detainers on all removable aliens in custody of local law enforcement.

ICE also acknowledges that it does not normally enter criminal history information until after someone is taken into custody, saying that the crimes listed for detainer requests may be temporarily under-reported. Field offices have been instructed to enter criminal history information when a detainer is issued.

Travis Loose and Tony Cantu contributed to this report

Image via ICE