Philly DA Wrote Letter to Judge Trying To Get Criminal Alien Released from ICE
Readers by now have to be familiar with the fight over “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
These are cities, counties or even states that declare they will not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when it comes to deporting illegal aliens who have committed crimes.
They will refuse to honor requests from ICE to detain criminals after they complete sentences for various crimes.
This has drawn threats of legal action from ICE.
However, according to a report from the Daily Caller News Foundation, the office of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner went way beyond non-cooperation.
In fact, the DA ended up acting much more like a defense attorney.
In a news release Jan. 31, ICE announced the arrest of a 36-year-old Mexican national with a lengthy rap sheet that included at least six arrests.
The charges included robbery, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, terroristic threats, simple assault and failure to appear.
Despite that rap sheet, Philadelphia released this person — ignoring no less than three detainers that ICE had filed with local authorities.
Even when ICE did get the Mexican national in custody, Krasner’s office did something far beyond what many other jurisdictions have done: It wrote a letter on behalf of this illegal alien.
An immigration judge in York, Pennsylvania, then released the Mexican national, in part because of that letter.
After that release, the illegal was arrested again, this time on charges that included aggravated assault.
Again, there was a detainer from ICE. Again, Philadelphia let the Mexican national loose.
“Cooperating with ICE is in the best interest of the residents of the city of Philadelphia,” George Brawley, the deputy field office director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in that city, said in a statement.
“Philadelphia officials’ misguided policy of releasing dangerous criminals, rather than safely transferring these individuals to ICE custody, negatively impacts public safety,” Brawley said, adding, “This is a dangerous policy, as I am sure the most recent victim(s) can attest to.”
Krasner, a Democrat, has opposed working with ICE for years, saying in 2018, “Quite frankly, cooperating with ICE at this time makes our city less safe because it makes undocumented individuals fearful of coming forward to report crimes or testify in criminal cases. That’s simply unacceptable.”
“None of this makes us safer. This is being done to strike fear and terror throughout our immigrant communities.”
Standing with @DARollins & all American leaders protecting beloved neighbors against these spiteful tactics. https://t.co/dNHhlwZACz
— DA Larry Krasner (@DA_LarryKrasner) February 15, 2020
While there may be an understandable temptation to just shrug off non-cooperation as “business as usual,” ignoring ICE detainers has cost lives.
In New York City, a 92-year-old woman was allegedly murdered by an illegal alien of Guyanese origin who was released after local authorities ignored a detainer.
You would think that after horrific tragedies like that, there would be a reconsideration of such reckless policies.
Sadly, we think such reconsideration will not be coming anytime soon.
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