Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has filed a lawsuit against the Biden government, arguing that interim immigration enforcement guidelines prevent the arrest and deportation of criminals illegally in the country.
Moody appeared on Fox News to talk about her lawsuit, saying the Biden government requires law enforcement to release criminals.
“And now they have released guidance that releases basic criminal offenders in our streets,” Moody said on Fox & Friends March 9. ‘They cancel detainees and demand from our law enforcers to release them again in our states. And that includes dealers in heroin, people breaking into homes, the use of a firearm in some of these crimes. ‘
We took a closer look at Moody’s remark about detainees, which is a tool used by immigration authorities to monitor people who are allegedly released by local or state law enforcement agencies. Moody’s office has provided evidence that immigration and customs enforcement have lifted requests for certain inmates in Florida, based on new application priorities.
But Moody’s claim about the effect of these movements needs more context. The removal of the detainees does not mean that ICE has forced law enforcement agencies to release people. Law enforcement agencies are forced to release people because their sentences have been completed. And law enforcement agencies do not have to comply with requests from detainees.
In addition, ICE told PolitiFact that it was still issuing detainees. But the agency said it was a priority to remove the most serious offenders, such as gang members, murderers and terrorists.
What is an immigration detention?
An immigration detention is a notice sent by the Department of Homeland Security to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to notify them of the ICE’s intent to supervise a person released from law enforcement. ICE can file an arrest against someone who has served a criminal sentence, or someone who has been arrested on local criminal charges.
The detention requires a law enforcement agency to notify ICE of a person’s release date and to keep that person up to 48 hours (excluding holidays and weekends) to give ICE time to arrest the person and in a deportation procedure. If the 48 hours expire, the law enforcement agency generally no longer has the power to seize that person.
An immigration detention is not an arrest warrant, and law enforcement agencies are not legally obligated to comply with the requests.
Biden’s immigration enforcement priorities
On the first day of President Joe Biden, the acting secretary of home security ordered a review of immigration enforcement practices and said that in the meantime, the department should give priority to the deportation of people suspected of posing a threat to national security, border security and the public is. safety.
The acting director of ICE issued interim guidelines in February in which he reiterated that priorities for arrest and deportation include people who were engaged in or suspected of engaging in terrorism; people who have been convicted of a serious crime (such as murder) and who are currently under threat; and those who entered the country illegally on November 1, 2020.
Under the Trump administration, everyone in the country was illegally a removal priority.
The new guideline applied to decisions on the issuance of a detention or to the supervision of someone for whom a detention has previously been issued. Immigration authorities are not prohibited from arresting, detaining or removing people who are not on the priority list. However, these actions are ‘subject to prior review’, the guidance said.
Moody’s testimony
Moody’s office ordered PolitiFact to exhibit accompanying the lawsuit, which included an affidavit from an employee of the Florida Department of Corrections, e-mail exchanges between the civil servant and ICE deportation officers, and information about inmates in Florida’s correctional facilities.
One of the email exchanges shows the government employee asking an ICE deportation officer ‘whether ICE has an interest in placing a detention’ on a certain prisoner. The officer replied that “according to new administration guidelines, ICE will take no action” regarding that prisoner, whose criminal record includes burglary (of an unoccupied building, unarmed), robbery, damage to property and cocaine possession.
ICE also told the state he will not place an arrest on someone convicted of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted criminal and possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana.
The emails show that ICE has lifted persistent requests on other inmates. “Subject currently does not meet our removal criteria due to executive order, ICE no longer has an interest in this topic,” one email said. The prisoner was charged with possession of ammunition by a convicted criminal and also had warrants for selling heroin.
Moody is therefore correct about the fact that ICE is “canceling” some detention requests for inmates in Florida.
ICE has also dropped at least 26 arrest requests in Texas, the AP reported on February 13. Most of the 26 people have been convicted of drug charges or drunk driving offenses, but some still fall under enforcement priorities, according to the AP.
Two were convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager and another was convicted of immorality with a child, AP said. Eventually, two were transferred to immigration custody, and the third revoked his approval by parole after ICE dropped the detention and will now remain in jail for at least another year, the AP reports.
ICE told PolitiFact that data was not readily available about detainees issued or lifted during the Biden administration. An agency spokesman issued ICE approximately 46,000 immigrant detainees in the 2021 financial year. The financial year began on October 1, 2020 during the Trump administration, which supports the use of detainees.
Immigration enforcement priorities are much narrower under the Biden administration than under the Trump administration, which is why fewer detainees are likely to be issued now, said Jessica Bolter, co-policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.
Our verdict
Moody said the Biden government is canceling immigrant detainees and “demanding that law enforcers release serious criminal offenders.”
ICE has canceled some detention requests in Florida, saying the people in detention are no longer complying with the interim enforcement priorities set out by the Biden government. An AP news report says that ICE in Texas has canceled the detention of some people who have been convicted of sex crimes and who do fit the administration’s priority prescriptions. But the prisoners ended up in custody again.
The cancellation of an ICE detention does not in itself cause the release of a person from local or state custody. The detainees are being placed on people who have already been released. ICE said it was still issuing detainees.
Moody’s statement is partly accurate, but leaves out some context. We judge it half true.