Immigration authorities were prepared to release three men in Texas who were convicted of child sex offenses due to an apparent misapplication of President Joe Biden’s enforcement regulations.
On his first day in office, Biden issued a new directive on immigration enforcement: Under the new memorandum, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had to focus its efforts on threats to national security, threats to public security and immigrants who entered the United States illegally on or on 1 November.
ICE has rejected requests for “detainees” – requiring state and local law enforcement officers a person who may have entered the U.S. illegally – against 26 people as a result of the policy change, according to Jason Clark, chief of staff of the Texas Department of Criminal law.
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Most of the 26 were convicted of drug charges or drunk driving offenses, but two men were convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager and a third were convicted of immorality with a child.
People convicted of sexual offenses against minors still qualify under the Biden policy, as the memorandum defines threats to public safety as people “who have been convicted of a serious offense.”
FILE – In this photo on April 22, 2020, a car was driving on a highway parallel to a border fence in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo / Cedar Attanasio, file)
((AP Photo / Cedar Attanasio, file))
The three were not released after talks in recent weeks between the state prison system and immigration authorities. But the process of keeping them in custody has sounded the alarm that ICE culprits who are in violation of immigration law do not want to be detained.
ICE has confirmed to Fox News that he is detaining Jose Lara-Lopez, 41, after his release from the Texas State Penitentiary, where he was locked up for sexually assaulting a minor – pending his immigration process.
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ICE “takes arrests and detention provisions on a case-by-case basis, based on the overall circumstances and does so in accordance with federal law and agency policies,” the agency said in a statement to Fox News.
The agency did not confirm whether he originally intended to drop the detention for Lara-Lopez or the two other convicts.
Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted on February 5 that “Biden’s immigration policy threatens security in Texas” after learning that Lara-Lopez should be transferred into ICE custody, but that it would rather be posted to be released.
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Lara-Lopez pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenager in Houston two years ago.
The application of Biden’s new guidelines appears to be unequal across the country, with immigration lawyers in other states reporting that ICE did not want to release immigrants who, according to lawyers, should be allowed to be released again.
An officer at ICE’s field office in Houston, who was involved in the Lara-Lopez case, wrote in an email to Fox News last month that agents should stop all deportations and “release everyone immediately. ‘. This lead was later revoked by a superior.
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Texas has successfully won a restraining order preventing the Biden administration from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium, which is also part of the same January 20 memo.
District Judge Drew Tipton’s order did not prevent the implementation of the enforcement priorities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.