Forced to divert resources to address the border crisis, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 13,000 fewer criminal aliens in 2019 than in 2018.
ICE’s Fiscal Year 2019 Enforcement and Removal Operations report, released Wednesday, showed an agency still struggling with the aftereffects of the nearly one million people who were apprehended illegally crossing the border in the last fiscal year. While criminals still made up 86 percent of those ICE arrested, the overall drop left thousands of criminal illegal immigrants on the streets.
“There is no doubt that the border crisis, coupled with the unwillingness of some local jurisdictions that choose to put politics over public safety, has made it more difficult for ICE to carry out its congressionally mandated interior enforcement mission,” ICE acting director Matthew Albence said. “No matter where you live in the U.S., your safety is impacted by criminal aliens who came to this country illegally and now live in your neighborhoods.”
The report’s findings indicate that the border crisis, and Congress’s inability to address its underlying causes, continues to have an effect on American communities even as it shows signs of abating. – READ MORE