in World News Amid reports of yet another criminal illegal immigrant committing heinous crimes under the protection of a sanctuary city (this time in Portland), another “sanctuary” story is making the rounds: Denver’s latest attempts to undermine federal immigration law. Among all the cities openly defying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), perhaps none are more brazen than Denver — but ICE is making clear that they aren’t going to just stand by and let Denver thwart the law.
Along with implementing a wide range of audacious measures designed to obstruct federal immigration law, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has demanded that immigration agents stop making arrests at the city’s courthouse when illegal immigrants are scheduled to appear for court hearings, a showdown that has gotten some national attention.
“When witnesses and victims of crime are not showing up to testify, now we cannot pursue the individuals who have perpetrated crime. Now, how’s that make us more safe?” asked Hancock, reports CBS Denver.
However, as, the outlet notes, immigration officials did not respond to the mayor’s demand like he was hoping. “ICE rejected that request,” CBS states succinctly.
The people truly endangering others, said an ICE official, are those failing to comply with immigration law.
“By not turning over criminal aliens in a safe, secure environment, they’re actually putting my officers and the community at risk,” said Phillip Miller, director of ICE’s deportation agents.
The reason ICE often feels compelled to make arrests outside courthouses in the first place is that permanent home addresses and employer information is often hard to find for those “hiding in the shadows” after entering the country illegally. In addition, sanctuary cities are refusing to notify immigration authorities when they have detained criminal illegals and failing to honor detainers on individuals issued by ICE.
Like the hundreds of other sanctuary cities, Denver is deliberately standing between ICE and criminal illegal aliens, but as Jazz Shaw highlights, Denver has taken the dangerous “sanctuary” mentality even further than their defiant peers:
In recent months they have changed the sentencing structure for many “minor crimes” (which apparently includes domestic violence and assault) so that immigrants – both legal and illegal – who are convicted of crimes can avoid automatic deportation. And now they included a new wrinkle, allowing illegal immigrants to send in their plea for minor violations by mail so they can dodge immigration officials. …
If the plea-by-mail scheme doesn’t do enough to thwart immigration officers, Denver has one more trick up their sleeve. They’re experimenting with the idea of allowing suspects to “show up” for hearings via Skype so they don’t have to physically walk in the door at the courthouse.
The potentially deadly results of sanctuary policies have been highlighted once again in the case of Sergio Jose Martinez, an illegal immigrant who has been deported allegedly 20 times, and who on July 24 tied up, blindfolded and brutally raped a 65-year-old woman in Portland, Oregon. The horrific crime would never have happened had Portland authorities simply complied with federal immigration authorities. The Daily Wire reports:
In December 2016, while Martinez was being held in a Portland jail, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a detainer on him, requesting that the agency be notified in advance if he were to be released.
One day later, according to ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice, “local authorities” released Martinez without notifying federal immigration authorities.
The Oregonian reports that state “law prohibits public agencies from spending money, using equipment or enlisting personnel to enforce federal immigration law.”
http://www.dailywire.com/news/19139/denver-tells-ice-stop-arresting-illegal-immigrants-james-barrett