The New York City Council is close to passing a city ordinance that will drastically hamper the activities of the Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to federal law enforcement officers and a non-profit public interest group's latest report..
The ordinance will limit ICE agents in their role of identifying and removing illegal aliens from the city's correctional system. If and when the ordinance is passed, New York will join a small list of large cities, including San Francisco, Washington, DC, Chicago, and San Jose, that deliberately obstruct ICE's operations.
Even more troubling is the Obama Administration's lack of resolve in making certain all states and cities comply with immigration laws and policies, a former New York City police official told the Law Enforcement Examiner.
"Usually, Obama's minions are more interested in harassing and denigrating states and cities that attempt to enforce immigration laws," said former NYPD detective and security firm owner Sidney Franes. "But they turn a blind eye to those who obstruct justice in the name of 'sanctuary' for criminal aliens."
The Center for Immigration Studies released a new report on Friday titled, "Which Way, New York: Will Feds Tolerate Local Interference or Assert Their Authority?" It is available online at: http://cis.org/nyc-local-interference . The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.
The CIS report examines New York City's policies and practices and the effect they have on public safety and federal enforcement efforts.
It also questions the federal government's passive acceptance of these sanctuary policies and recommends actions that can be taken to discourage such developments.
Key findings:
- Three-quarters of all foreign-born arrests in the entire state of New York occur in New York City (NYC). In 2008, the latest year for which data are available, local officers arrested 52,827 immigrants in NYC.
- For at least 20 years, NYC has had official policies impeding the enforcement of federal immigration laws. City policies prevent ICE agents from receiving notification of arrested aliens before their release from police custody.
- In September 2009, NYC's Department of Correction adopted, and has since maintained, particularly obstructive policies and procedures for immigration officers and agents attempting to access criminal alien inmates housed in its detention facilities. Jail staff are required to follow procedures that actively encourage aliens to refuse to speak with ICE agents.
- Since the implementation of these procedures, the number of aliens charged with immigration violations at the city's main detention facility has been cut nearly in half.
- Notwithstanding its lack of cooperation, NYC has garnered millions of dollars each year in federal SCAAP (State Criminal Alien Assistance Program) funds since the inception of this program to reimburse jurisdictions for the costs of incarcerating illegal aliens criminals.
- Despite all of the above facts, the federal government has never taken action to overcome the obstacles placed in its way by NYC – either through lawsuits, withholding of funding, or executive action – so that it can perform its job of immigration law enforcement in the most effective and efficient way possible.
"New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg is too busy banning transfats in foods, smoking in bars and restaurants, and automobile parking on the streets of lower Manhattan to be bothered with actually protecting New Yorkers from criminal aliens who have already served notice on society that they are predators," said Franes.
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