ICE Launches 'Sanctuary City' Crackdown Targeting Hotbeds of Illegal Immigration

Cities that have instituted sanctuary policies will be targeted by an upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, according to three government officials.

The ICE “sanctuary op” will start in California before targeting Denver and Philadelphia, The Washington Post reported.

“However, every day as part of routine operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement targets and arrests criminal aliens and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” ICE spokesman Mike Alvarez told The Post.

Cities that adopted sanctuary policies were notified that more ICE agents would be sent to their jurisdictions to make arrests.

Cities that do not comply with an increase in agents pose a risk to ICE personnel and the public, Alvarez said.

“Generally speaking, as ICE has noted for years, in jurisdictions where cooperation does not exist and ICE is not allowed to assume custody of aliens from jails, ICE is forced to arrest at-large criminal aliens out in the communities instead of under the safe confines of a jail,” Alvarez said.

Sanctuary policies make it more difficult to take illegal immigrants into custody while they await potential deportation.

Around 70 percent of arrests made by ICE occur after the agency is notified of an illegal immigrant’s pending release from a jail or state prison.

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