Immigration and Customs Enforcement released 90,000 illegal aliens back onto the streets that were deemed as criminal threats in 2015. The massive release was a result of Pres. Obama’s Priority Enforcement Program that puts the focus only on criminal aliens who pose a "serious" threat.
In fiscal year 2015 ICE encountered 152,393 illegal criminal aliens, mostly through local jails, but only charged 64,116. According to Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, around 88,000 were not even processed for deportation.
In December 2015 Assistant Homeland Security Secretary, Sarah R. Saldana, testified before Congress that ICE was unable to deport many of the illegal aliens due to court orders or because of a Supreme Court case that limits how long an illegal alien can be detained.
Many sheriffs and local law enforcement around the country try to work with ICE to notify them when an illegal alien charged with a crime is about to be freed. Most of the time ICE asks for a 48-hour detainer on the illegal alien. However, due to lack of support from the federal government they are not legally allowed to hold the illegal immigrants longer and are afraid of lawsuits if they comply with the ICE requests.
Even those that ICE is able to seize are often released as a result of the Obama administration’s failed immigration policies. Many of the criminal aliens immediately return to the same communities they were previously living in, some without even being processed for deportation after committing their crime.
This has become a huge issue for local law enforcement, who are usually blamed for the release of the illegal criminal alien. Susan Benton, sheriff of Florida's Highlands County, said "We're the bad guys, we're the ones CNN is on saying, 'That sheriff let that killer out.”
You can read more on this story at The Washington Examiner.
