ICE Fires Back Against Sanctuary County in Scathing Op-Ed
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director fired back against an editorial that mischaracterized ICE, in a scathing op-ed Wednesday.
Newark, New Jersey’s Field Office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) John Tsoukaris said The Star-Ledger appeared to “utterly ignore” detailed information ICE gave surrounding an incident where two unauthorized immigrants were released from Middlesex County Jail.
The Ledger made several accusations toward ICE, including not picking up and not providing judicial orders for detention for the two illegal immigrants, according to the Sunday editorial.
“Middlesex has agreed to take that risk with the most serious criminals,” the editorial said. “But ICE hasn’t done its part by getting federal court orders to authorize that added time in detention. Instead, ICE rants at the county jails and blames them.”
“This idea is simply a figment created by those who wish to undermine immigration enforcement and excuse the ill-conceived practices of sanctuary jurisdictions (‘sanctuary cities’) that put politics before public safety,” Tsoukaris wrote.
He further said that sanctuary policies make it difficult for ICE to remove “criminal aliens from the country.”
Tsoukaris also called out Middlesex County Jail for being the “lone example” in New Jersey for not cooperating with ICE when a detainer is ordered. He added that ICE cannot deport people while facing serious criminal charges until justice is first served.
ICE asks for notification before the person is released, according to Tsoukaris.
“Unfortunately, The Star-Ledger ignored all of these points we addressed prior to publication in favor of a narrative seeking to justify Middlesex’s sanctuary policy of releasing dangerous criminals back into the community without notifying ICE,” Tsoukaris wrote in the op-ed.
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