In a surprise move, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped a popular system to alert people about violent criminal illegal immigrants to report on, a sort of Most Wanted board on Twitter.
Called @ICEAlerts, the page once filled with photos and details of fugitive aliens released by sanctuary cities now carries a note that reads: “These Tweets Are Protected. Only approved followers can see @ICEAlerts’s Tweets.”
Some who had access are in “pending” status.
NEW: The Biden Administration has locked ICE’s public safety alert account (@ICEalerts) which informed the public about fugitive criminal aliens. The account had been up since 2013, and largely developed by ICE under the Trump Administration. pic.twitter.com/lzesbye9PE
— Jon Feere (@JonFeere) March 2, 2021
The change has drawn criticism from a former top ICE official, who said it’s dangerous not to use every avenue to alert the public about fugitive illegals.
Here’s another criminal alien released by the NYPD that the Biden Admin apparently doesn’t want you reporting to ICE, arrested for assault, injury to a child: pic.twitter.com/ZAvex0CiN2
— Jon Feere (@JonFeere) March 2, 2021
“There’s really no rationale for locking this account other than to discourage public reporting of obvious safety threats. The Biden administration will continue to claim that it’s focused on dangerous illegal aliens, but this move illustrates that they’re just not serious,” said Jon Feere, a former senior adviser to ICE during the Trump administration.
He has posted on Twitter several examples of past ICE alerts.
ICE also used to post “Most Wanted Wednesday” tweets aimed at getting the public’s help in locating public safety threats. The Biden Admin is apparently not too interested in public safety. pic.twitter.com/wN3YCBOa7J
— Jon Feere (@JonFeere) March 2, 2021
ICE on Tuesday night said it uses multiple sites, including Facebook and Instagram, for alerts to “stakeholders, including local jurisdictions.”
A spokesperson added, “ICE routinely updates its many communication tools to ensure accurate information remains consist with current priorities. As with similar accounts associated with prior administrations’ policies, @ICEalerts was archived as it was no longer being maintained.”
Georgia Repubilcan Rep. Andrew Clyde raised concerns about American safety because of the ICE moves.
He told Secrets, “Once again, it appears the Biden administration is putting open borders policies over the safety and security of American citizens. Locking the ICE alerts account prevents the public from receiving critical information about criminal aliens. I fear it will be American lives that will pay the price for the Administration’s reckless policies.”
Feere added, “The Biden administration is also claiming that they’re prioritizing their resources, but that’s dishonest. The agency has the resources to arrest and deport just as many aliens as we did under the Trump administration, and they could ask Congress for more resources. Instead, we’re witnessing the dismantling of immigration enforcement, piece by piece. This benefits only smugglers, traffickers, and unscrupulous employers who seek to exploit illegal labor.”
The change follows others by the Biden team to dismantle former President Donald Trump’s more aggressive actions to block illegal immigrants from entering the country and capture them for deportation once here. Now, all that has changed under Biden, drawing a huge response from more immigrants flooding the border.
It also is a signal of support for liberal state and city sanctuary policies in which local police are barred from cooperating with ICE officers seeking criminal illegal immigrants to deport.
