A win for Trump In Sanctuary Cities Legal Wrestling Match in New York

2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned a lower court’s decision ordering the administration to release funding to New York City and seven states — New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia and Rhode Island, AP reported.

That means that the Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars in law enforcement grants to force states to cooperate with U.S. immigration enforcement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Matthew T. Albence explained how sanctuary policies threaten public safety and called on the public to hold their local lawmakers accountable. The briefing made clear that local jurisdictions across the U.S. that refuse to cooperate with ICE are complicit in the crimes committed by aliens who ICE could have otherwise been arrested and removed.

Under federal law, ICE has the authority to lodge immigration detainers with law enforcement partners who have custody of individuals arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable aliens. The detainer form asks the other law enforcement agency to notify ICE in advance of release and to maintain custody of the alien for a brief period so that ICE can take custody of that person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody. Across the United States, several jurisdictions refuse to honor detainers and instead choose to willingly release criminal offenders back into their local communities where they are free to offend.

Acting Director Albence made clear that state and local jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement not only betray their duty to protect public safety, but force ICE to be more visible in those areas.

“As law enforcement professionals, it is frustrating to see senseless acts of violence and other criminal activity happen in our communities, knowing ICE could have prevented them with just a little cooperation,” said Albence. “To the public, who want to live and raise your families in safe neighborhoods, we ask you to hold your lawmakers accountable before you, or someone you love, is unnecessarily victimized by a criminal ICE could have removed from the country.”

Below are some examples of the risks posed by laws and policies restricting cooperation with ICE:

While ICE conducts daily at-large arrests of criminal aliens, officers also focused on people who had been released from uncooperative jurisdictions. Of the nearly 1,300 at-large arrests made this week, ICE officers apprehended 199 people who could have been arrested at a jail if the agency’s detainers had been honored.

“It is past time to put aside all the political rhetoric and listen to the facts – and the fact is, people are being hurt and victimized every day because of jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with ICE,” said Acting Director Albence.

While making clear the consequences of uncooperative jurisdictions, Albence also commended law enforcement partners who do work with ICE because it is much safer for all involved if ICE officers take custody in the controlled environment of another law enforcement agency. Approximately 70 percent of the arrests ICE makes happen after ICE is notified about an alien being released from local jails or state prisons. In fiscal year 2019, ICE has lodged more than 160,000 detainers with local law enforcement agencies.

Acting Director Albence reiterated that ICE is sworn to uphold the federal immigration laws enacted by Congress and that the agency will carry out its sworn mission, with or without the cooperation of local law enforcement agencies.

“It is my sincere desire to work with local partners to whatever extent they are willing to work with this agency in what should be our shared goal to ensure public safety,” he said. “Uncooperative jurisdictions should be on notice that as long as criminal offenders are being released, they should get used to seeing a lot more ICE at-large enforcement activity in their communities.”

Nationally, approximately 90 percent of all people arrested by ICE during fiscal year 2019 either had a criminal conviction, a pending criminal charge, had illegally re-entered the United States after being previously removed (a federal felony), or were an immigration fugitive subject to a final order of removal.

2020 “The President (In his State of the Union Address) touched on a top public safety issue that puts millions of law-abiding Americans, law enforcement officers, and legal immigrants at risk: The rise of sanctuary cities. Sanctuary policies are an affront to the rule of law and our Constitution and they are contrary to every instinct that we have as law enforcement professionals. Elected officials who create sanctuary policies are ignoring the reality we’ve seen play out time and again. Sanctuary policies do not protect communities—they endanger them. All too often, criminal aliens are released into communities only to reoffend, requiring the men and women of ICE to needlessly risk their lives to track down these fugitives in neighborhoods or at workplaces instead of the security of a local jail, DHS reported.

Background information from Department of Homeland Security

Non-cooperative jurisdictions that do not honor U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) detainer requests to hold criminal aliens who are already in their custody, endanger the public and threaten officer safety by releasing criminal aliens back into the community to re-offend. In addition to causing preventable crimes, this creates another “pull factor” that increases illegal immigration.

FEB 10 VOA reported on case pending:

New York state is suing the Trump administration over its decision to bar hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers from a federal program that expedites travelers across the border and through airport security checks.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the suit Monday, saying that keeping New Yorkers out of the federal Trusted Traveler Program is unconstitutional. The lawsuit alleges the policy violates the sovereign rights of states and the prohibition against coercive action by federal authorities.

“We will not compromise our values nor back down when the federal government continues to unfairly and illegally target New York,” Cuomo said. He pointed out that more than a dozen so-called red states — states where polls show President Donald Trump is popular — have similar laws, but that the administration is targeting New York.  

“Make no mistake. We are fighting back and will be using every tool available to us to do so,” Cuomo said.

The Trusted Traveler Program allows participants to cross over bridges and through checkpoints from Canada and Mexico by registering in automated systems.

Airport travelers are also permitted to go through security lines quicker.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Protection agency last week said hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers would be stopped from re-enrolling when their current accounts expire, and pending applications would be thrown out.

New York’s Green Light Law

New York says the decision was retaliation for the state’s new Green Light Law, which allows illegal immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses, and limits federal officials from accessing drivers’ records from the state.

The state’s lawsuit says banning drivers and flyers from the Trusted Traveler Program would damage the New York economy by forcing more workers to wait at the border, putting global businesses that depend on cross-border traffic at a disadvantage.

The suit also alleges the safety of all travelers will suffer because of border congestion.