Sanctuary politicians have apparently been ignoring orders from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for months, effectively allowing criminal illegal aliens to be released back onto the streets — and the Department of Homeland Security is not happy about it.
The DHS reported on Monday in a press release that Democrat politicians have repeatedly defied ICE by ignoring arrest detainers.
‘We are calling on Governor Pritzker and his administration to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens in Illinois’ custody.’
The press release singled out Illinois and Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker, one of the most vocal political opponents of ICE operations under President Trump.
The press release stated that 1,768 criminal illegal aliens have been released in Illinois alone since January 20, 2025.
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Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The crimes committed by these illegal aliens include homicide, assault, burglary, robbery, dangerous drug offenses, weapons offenses, and sexual offenses, according to the press release.
There are currently 4,015 aliens in Illinois’ custody, the majority of whom have committed crimes such as those listed above.
“Governor Pritzker and his fellow Illinois sanctuary politicians are releasing murderers, pedophiles, and kidnappers back into our neighborhoods and putting American lives at risk,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“We are calling on Governor Pritzker and his administration to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens in Illinois’ custody,” McLaughlin continued. “It is common sense. Criminal illegal aliens should not be released back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans.”
In September, ICE demanded that leaders in sanctuary states like California, New York, and Illinois cooperate with the federal agency to keep criminals off the streets.
ICE also warned these states that it would “engage with the Department of Justice and other federal partners to pursue all appropriate measures to end their inadvisable and irresponsible obstruction of the apprehension and removal of criminal illegal aliens.”
Previously, Illinois and New York sent ICE responses that “underscored their refusal to honor ICE detainers.” California did not respond, according to ICE.
According to its website, ICE issues immigration detainers to law enforcement to ask them to hold suspects for up to 48 hours longer than their scheduled release.
ICE issues these arrest detainers after it has already established probable cause that suspects are removable, usually on account of convictions for other crimes such as homicide, sexual assault, burglaries and robberies, and drug and human trafficking.
ICE makes it clear that honoring arrest detainers helps guarantee safety for both the public and law enforcement officers: “When jails, prisons, or other confinement facilities agree to honor immigration detainers, ICE officers can take custody of removable aliens in a safe, controlled environment instead of at-large in the community.”
DHS’ Monday press release included nine mug shots of the “worst of the worst” criminals who had previously been released in Illinois after their detainer requests were ignored by state officials.
The criminal illegal aliens either are now in ICE custody or have been removed from the United States.
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Politics, Ice, Criminal illegal aliens, Arrest detainers, Illinois, Trump, Trump administration, California, Jb pritzker, New york
