ICE arrests public safety threat after detainer not honored
BALTIMORE – A 19-year-old El Salvadoran national with multiple criminal arrests was taken into custody May 4 by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) after he was released on bond with an active ICE detainer in place. He is currently detained at the Howard County Detention Center in Jessup, Maryland.
Mario Granados-Alvarado was released from local custody May 3 despite immigration officials formally lodging a detainer with the Montgomery County Detention Center a day earlier. Montgomery County, Maryland, is listed as a jurisdiction that has publicly limited cooperation with ICE and frequently ignores legally authorized detainers.
“Keeping people safe means not tolerating the release of aliens that present a clear public safety threat back into our communities,” said Dorothy Herrera-Niles, field office director for ERO Baltimore. “ICE is committed to fostering positive collaboration with our local law-enforcement partners, and welcomes changes from county officials that would prioritize public safety.”
According to Department of Homeland Security databases, Granados-Alvarado was originally encountered by U.S. Border Patrol on March 6, 2014, near Falfurrias, Texas, and it was determined he had unlawfully entered into the United States from Mexico. He was issued a notice to appear in immigration court, and is currently in removal proceedings.
ICE seeks cooperation from all its law enforcement partners to achieve the mutual goal of protecting public safety. ICE submits a detainer request to local law enforcement agencies so an alien in the custody of local law enforcement who is subject to removal from the United States can seamlessly be transferred to ICE custody within a 48-hour period of time. A transfer of custody that takes place inside the secure confines of a jail or prison is safer for everyone involved, including our officers and the person being arrested.
When a local law enforcement agency fails to honor an ICE detainer, individuals, who often have significant criminal histories, are released into the community, presenting a potential public safety threat. ICE officers then have to locate these criminal aliens in the community, which is highly resource intensive. It’s not uncommon for criminal alien targets to utilize multiple aliases and provide authorities with false addresses. Doing so, could needlessly put ICE personnel and innocent bystanders in harm’s way.
In fiscal year 2016, ICE removed or returned 240,255 individuals. Of this total, 174,923 were apprehended while, or shortly after, attempting to illegally enter the United States. The remaining 65,332 were apprehended in the interior of the United States, and the vast majority were convicted criminals.
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