ICE arrests in Los Angeles, Bay Area anger local officials
Democrats accuse Trump administration of political stunt
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced 128 arrests Wednesday in California of people facing possible deportation for past criminal convictions or pending charges who the agency said had been released by local officials under local and state sanctuary laws.
“A part of ICE’s mission is to protect the American people and provide security to our communities,” Tony H. Pham, a senior official serving as ICE’s director, said in a news statement. “Unfortunately, California’s sanctuary laws protect and shield criminal aliens, harboring them in our communities where they can potentially reoffend and revictimize.”
But the arrests, most of which were in Southern California, drew fire from California officials. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who chairs the House Judi
ciary subcommittee on immigration and citizenship, called it “dangerous and irresponsible” to fill immigration detention centers where COVID-19 could spread. And citing reports that it was part of a “political messaging campaign,” she said “to do so for the sake of scoring political points is unconscionable.”
ICE said the arrests took place Sept. 18- Saturday and targeted people subject to removal who were arrested for alleged crimes but were released
by state or local law enforcement agencies, despite having active immigration detainers in place.
ICE did not identify or describe all those arrested but said more than 95% had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges at the time of arrest. In the Los Angeles area, ICE said its officers arrested nearly 100 unlawfully present individuals with criminal histories that include homicide, sexual assault, sex crimes involving children, assault, robbery, domestic violence and drunken driving.
They included a 40-yearold citizen of El Salvador arrested Sept. 29 who had
been convicted in Los Angeles of first- degree murder in November 2009, and whom ICE said Los Angeles jail officials released after ignoring the detainer.
T he agency also described a 50-year- old citizen of Mexico arrested Sept. 28 in Long Beach who had been convicted in Los Angeles of conspiracy to commit second- degree murder in June 1994, also released from a Los Angeles jail despite an immigration detainer, who since has been deported back to Mexico.
San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Canepa said one of the arrested was a 29- year- old Guatamalen
man arrested in his district in Daly City for what he said was multiple drunken driving convictions, and he questioned whether those targeted by the operation were dangerous to the public.
“Last I heard, a DUI was a misdemeanor in California,” Canepa said. “This gentleman was not a hardened criminal but yet faces deportation now for traffic offenses. That’s just plain wrong and not the America I want to live in.”
ICE said all those in violation of immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and removal from the U. S., and that it takes many factors into
account when making arrests — including the subject’s criminal and immigration history.
California made national headlines in 2017 with the California Values Act barring local law enforcement agencies from using any of their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement, similar to sanctuary city policies that had been adopted in many Bay Area cities and counties.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf criticized those policies Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, certain local politicians, including many in California, continue to put politics over public safety,” Wolf said in a news statement.
Lofgren in her letter to Pham cited concerns that four of five detention centers in California have had COVID-19 outbreaks. She asked him to describe what steps ICE has taken to coordinate with local public health officials and what its plans are to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
She said that since the pandemic began, 6,400 detainees and 200 ICE employees have tested positive and 21 detainees have died in ICE custody, the most in a fiscal year since 2006.