An ICE-Cold Report On Illegal Immigrant Criminals In The U.S.

Broad & Liberty ran my piece on illegal immigrant criminals today.

You can read the piece via the below link or the below text:

Paul Davis: An ICE-cold report on illegal immigrant criminals in the U.S. (broadandliberty.com)

Many people were taken aback by last month’s chilling report that as of July 21st, 662,566 illegal immigrants with criminal records illegally crossed over the porous Southern border.

The information about illegal immigrant criminals in our country did not come from a talking head commentator on Fox News employing hyperbole. The data came directly from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

On September 25, Patrick J. Lechleitner, the Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of ICE, responded to a letter about illegal immigrants charged or convicted with a crime that Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) sent the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent organization. 

In Lechleitner’s letter to Congressman Gonzales, he noted, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recognizes the importance of its relationships with its law enforcement partners to carry out its mission. In recent years, however, as you know, some jurisdictions have reduced their cooperation with ICE, to include refusal to honor ICE detainer requests, even for noncitizens who have been convicted of serious felonies and pose an ongoing threat to public safety. ICE recognizes that some jurisdictions are concerned that cooperating with federal immigration officials will erode trust with immigrant communities and make it harder for local law enforcement to serve those populations. However, “sanctuary” policies can end up shielding dangerous criminals, who often victimize those same communities.”

The letter went on to state, “Your letter requests the number of noncitizens on ICE’s docket convicted or charged with a crime. As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket, which includes those detained by ICE, and on the agency’s non-detained docket. Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals, and 226,847 have pending criminal charges.” 

One person shocked and upset about the illegal immigrant criminals running loose in American towns and cities was House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green (R-TN). 

His office issued a statement on September 27 that read:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) issued a statement following the release of new data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) showing that, as of July 21, 2024, nearly 650,000 criminal illegal aliens were currently on ICE’s Non-Detained Docket (NDD) and roaming free in communities throughout the United States. This figure includes roughly 15,000 individuals convicted of or charged with murder, more than 20,000 of sexual assault, and more than 105,000 of assault.: 
 
“It may be shocking to hear that the Biden-Harris administration is actively releasing tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens into our communities, but their own numbers conclusively prove this to be the case. This defies all common sense. Under President Biden and his ‘border czar,’ Vice President Harris, DHS law enforcement has been directed to mass-release illegal aliens whom they know have criminal convictions or are facing charges for serious crimes—and these dangerous, destructive individuals are making their way into every city and state in this country. How many more Americans need to die or be victimized before this administration is forced to abide by the laws they swore to uphold?” 

As Lechleitner noted in his letter to Congressman Gonzales, sanctuary cities – and Philadelphia is a sanctuary city – do not cooperate with ICE and refuse to honor ICE detainer requests, even for illegals convicted of serious felonies, and are a threat to the security of the public. 

Lechleitner is quite right that sanctuary policies end up shielding dangerous criminals and those protected illegal immigrant criminals are free to murder, rob, rape and otherwise harm Americans living in the Sanctuary Cities. 

Philadelphia being a sanctuary city is essentially an open invitation for illegal immigrants, including the criminals in the mix, to come here and settle. As if we don’t have enough homegrown criminals in Philadelphia. Do we need to import more criminals? The illegal immigrants eat up tax dollars used to shelter and provide health care for them, and well as to school their children. The added tax burden is bad enough, but now we know that many illegal immigrants are also stone-cold predatory criminals.      

But on a good note, the Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia (ERO), a component of ICE, announced that they have removed Marvin Andres Ciro, a Colombian citizen, on September 16th. 

According to ERO, Echeverri is a foreign fugitive wanted by law enforcement authorities in Colombia for homicide. 

“Removing criminal noncitizens such as Marvin Andres Echeverri Ciro protects the American public and sends a message that the U.S. is no safe haven for criminals,” said ERO Philadelphia Field Office Director Cammilla Wamsley. “Echeverri’s case is a testament to the power of the detainer process and its critical role in national security.”

One down and many more to go.

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes the “On Crime” column for the Washington Times. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.