ICE deportation officers rounded up more than 170 illegal immigrants in six sanctuary cities in a new operation, saying the detainees had been released by local police despite deportation requests.
In a news release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the operation swept through Seattle, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., between Oct. 3 and Oct. 9.
According to ICE, in the New York City area, officers arrested 50 illegal immigrants with criminal histories that included sexual assault, sex crime, assault, robbery, larceny, family neglect and drunken driving.
The number of sanctuary cities has soared under President Trump, with communities saying they want to protect illegal immigrants from deportation events, The Washington Times reported.
The communities argue that cooperation with ICE, and its presence, intimidates some communities and makes it less likely they’ll report crimes to local authorities.
''If communities and jurisdictions would simply cooperate with us, you would likely not see ICE in your communities,'' acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said, The Washington Times reported.
According to the agency, 84% of the new arrests had criminal convictions or pending charges, and each had been released by local authorities despite an ICE request to be notified before release.
''The Department will continue to carry out lawful enforcement actions in order to keep our communities safe, regardless of whether or not we have cooperation from state and local officials. Politics will not come before safety when enforcing the law and keeping our citizens safe,'' Wolf said in a statement.
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