US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported 489 illegal immigrants with a criminal record, in violation of immigration law, were released from jails across North Carolina during the fiscal year 2019, despite having detainers placed on them.
“Yes. 489 detainers not honored this year in North Carolina,” an ICE spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. “All of those are of persons criminally arrested by a law enforcement agency for a criminal offense beyond their violation of federal immigration law.”
A detainer allows ICE to request a law enforcement agency to notify it 48 hours before an illegal alien is released from criminal custody and to further hold the alien for up to 48 hours to allow Home Land Security to take custody for removal purposes.
The count of 489 aliens released despite having detainers started in October 2018.
Acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli condemned the release in a message on Twitter and said some of the illegal aliens released include those charged with sex offenses and homicide.
Johnson has tracked rapes and sexual assaults on children by illegal aliens since 2013, using original police reports and calling arresting agencies to verify immigration status. For the 54 months he collected data, illegal aliens were charged with 151 counts of rape/sexually assaulting a child in North Carolina.