Rules imposed by President Joe Biden to reduce arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants have slashed the targeting of criminal illegal immigrants by ICE agents 75%, greatly endangering communities they are released in, according to law enforcement and immigration officials.
So-called “detainers” issued to local jails by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement have dropped under Biden from 10,000 a month to 2,500, according to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is heading an investigation into Biden’s efforts for his state and Montana.
As a result, he said, thousands of criminal illegal immigrants who would have been targeted for deportation are now being set free in cities around the nation.
What’s more, a top ICE official said the change is dangerous to local communities.
In his legal effort to investigate Biden’s decision to deport only illegal immigrants suspected of terrorism who entered after Nov. 1 and newly convicted of “aggravated felonies,” Brnovich has started deposing top officials, most recently Albert Carter, who served as the acting Phoenix Field Office director for ICE.
Carter said the cut in detainers hurts local security and was not done because of a lack of resources, one reason given by Biden’s team for the change in policy.
Brnovich’s office shared with Secrets two excerpts from the recent deposition. The first focused on the danger of those ICE targets with detainers.
Question: OK. 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?
Carter: I would say absolutely.
Also, during the May 27 court hearing, Carter said the reason for the change was not funding cuts.
Question: Was there a drop-off in resource constraints — excuse me. Were resource constraints responsible for the drop-off in February 2021?
Carter: No, sir.
Brnovich told Secrets, “Basically, it shows you that they are getting orders from the Biden administration not to go out and arrest people and deport them.”
Referring to his expanding investigation that has already forced the surrender of 5,000 pages of emails and documents, Brnovich said, “it’s clear from the emails and at least this first deposition that ICE officials are frustrated, but basically their hands are tied behind their backs. They are being forced to fight a war under rules of engagement that are unfair to law enforcement.”
He added, “As a result of that, literally we know that there are criminals that are not being deported. And it’s going to end up, I think, creating a huge public safety issue.”
Brnovich’s findings have been backed up by the former acting ICE Director Mark Morgan, who said that the extremely restrictive rules ICE is operating under could reduce deportations of criminal illegal immigrants by 90%.
“In the eyes of President Biden and [Homeland] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas, the only illegal aliens ICE should be deporting are potential terrorists and spies, or convicted aggravated felons. The Biden administration, through its actions and policies, has signaled that anyone here illegally that does not fit those categories is welcome to stay — despite the fact they have broken our laws simply by crossing the border illegally and, in many cases, have defied a court order calling for their removal,” he said.
That’s not good, said Brnovich, whose state has been swamped with waves of illegal immigrants and drugs since Biden erased former President Donald Trump’s policies that had cut crossings significantly.
“I believe in redemption, I do. But I know from my history as a gang prosecutor that if you start releasing felons, rapists, arsonists, people that have been convicted of serious crimes, a lot of those folks are going to go out and commit more crimes. So it’s going to be a problem,” said Brnovich.
