WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) issued a statement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were able to locate and arrest a criminal illegal immigrant one week after the Mecklenburg County Sheriff refused to honor an ICE detainer and instead released him from local criminal custody following his conviction for felony death by motor vehicle.

The individual was initially arrested January 29, 2019 by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for driving while impaired and felony death by motor vehicle. ICE lodged an immigration detainer against him with Mecklenburg County the following day. Along with the detainer form, ICE provided Mecklenburg County with an administrative arrest warrant. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office then refused to honor the ICE detainer and instead released him back into the community.

“The Mecklenburg Sheriff continues to put reckless sanctuary policies ahead of public safety by releasing criminal illegal immigrants back onto the streets,” said Senator Tillis. “I’m thankful to the ICE officers who enforced our nation’s immigration laws in spite of the local officials who refused to cooperate and made their jobs harder. It’s becoming increasingly apparent why Congress needs to pass my bills to hold sanctuary jurisdictions like Mecklenburg County accountable and put an end to their dangerous sanctuary policies.” 

“This is yet another example of a clear public safety threat being released into North Carolina communities rather than into ICE custody due to local sheriff policies on ICE non-cooperation,” said Acting ICE Director Matt Albence. “Continued decisions to refuse cooperation with ICE serve as an open invitation to aliens who commit criminal offenses that these counties are a safe haven for persons seeking to evade federal authorities, and residents of Mecklenburg County are less safe due to these misguided sanctuary policies.”

“ICE is willing to work with local partners on ways to fulfill our shared goal of ensuring community safety,” said ICE Atlanta Interim Field Office Director John Tsoukaris. “Unfortunately, elected law enforcement officials who chose not to collaborate with ICE and try to justify their actions by stating they are protecting their community are placing politics above public safety and are actually failing in their most basic duty of protecting their communities.  It defies logic how a sheriff would release dangerous criminals to the street instead of to a federal law enforcement agency that has an outstanding warrant of arrest. Uncooperative jurisdictions such as Mecklenburg County should be on notice that as long as criminal offenders are being released, they should get used to seeing a lot more ICE at-large enforcement activity in their communities.”

Last week, Senator Tillis introduced the Immigration Detainer Enforcement Act, legislation that would clarify the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) detainer authority, clearly establish the authority of states and localities to maintain custody in cases in which a detainer has been issued, and incentivize cooperation between law enforcement agencies and DHS through the reimbursement of certain detention, technology, and litigation-related costs. The introduction comes as a follow-up to the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act, legislation introduced by Senator Tillis that holds sanctuary jurisdictions accountable for failing to comply with lawful detainer and release notification requests made by federal authorities.

In September, WBTV reported data detailing that nearly 500 illegal immigrants were released from North Carolina jails over the last 10 months after being charged with crimes like sex offenses, kidnapping, arson and homicide. The illegal immigrants were released from jail after local sheriffs refused to comply with detainer requests made by ICE. 

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