But Monday’s report covered the week of January 28-February 3.
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It appeared to be spurred by an executive order signed in January by President Donald Trump that called for the government to document which local jurisdictions aren’t cooperating with federal efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally. This data shows we are serious about public safety in Travis County.
ICE uses detainers to request local law enforcement detain illegal immigrants who have been convicted or even just charged with a crime.
The move stems from an executive order directing Homeland Security to publicize a list of “criminal actions committed by aliens” along with jurisdictions that ignored requests for detention from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Furthermore, a DHS spokesperson said the department was actively working with its in-house lawyers to find ways to release the names of immigrants in future reports without contravening federal law.
Some jails and police agencies around the USA have opted in recent years not to cooperate with immigration authorities on detainers.
Officials reported that 206 criminally charged illegal immigrants were released from the custody of jails after an immigration detainer had been issued. In the past, most arrests were prompted by immigration checks on Travis County jail inmates.
Most detainers were issued for citizens of Mexico, followed by Honduras.
Fearing his deportation force, some undocumented women are opting to stay away from domestic violence courts and law enforcement agencies sworn to protect them. Of those, 142 came from Travis County Sheriff Hernandez’ jail.
But he said his department does not turn over people awaiting trial.
Hernandez has cited the need to build community trust with police as the reason for the more relaxed policy than her predecessor’s penchant for honoring ICE requests. “We want to make sure that justice is served on the local level as well”. It is meant to “highlight jurisdictions that choose not to cooperate with ICE detainers or requests for notification, therefore potentially endangering Americans”, the agency said in a news release.
We will update this story when more information becomes available. “They were born out of real experiences and problems that we’ve had in doing ICE’s work for them”. Detainers are government requests that an immigrant who could face deportation be turned over to immigration authorities. As NPR’s John Burnett reports, “While 206 of these detainers were ignored, that represents less than 10 percent of the 3,083 detainer requests that were issued nationwide”.
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U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin said ICE met with him and Judge Mark Lane in late January to tell them about a major operation they were planning. State lawmakers are also considering legislation that would ban so-called sanctuary cities and require Texas sheriffs to fully comply with ICE or risk civil penalties and criminal charges.
