Federal immigration authorities surrounded by sanctuary jurisdictions have managed to arrest a record number of noncitizen sex offenders this fiscal year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents working out of the Baltimore field office have arrested 161 noncitizen sex offenders so far this year, an agency spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday. This number surpasses the previous record of 152 sex offenders nabbed by ICE agents in one fiscal year.
Baltimore’s deportation officers first broke their record on Aug. 29 when they apprehended Madai Gamaliel Amaya, a Honduran illegal migrant convicted of rape, marking the agency’s 153rd sex offender arrest.
“The apprehension of Madai Gamaliel Amaya underscores the amazing work that our ERO officers perform every day,” said ERO Executive Associate Director Daniel Bible.”This is a landmark arrest for ERO Baltimore, in that they secured a record 153 noncitizen sex offenders arrested in their area of operations during a single fiscal year, but more importantly, there are 153 victims who need not fear their predators because of ERO officers.”
“This arrest also highlights the amazing enforcement actions performed by ERO officers across our great nation,” Bible continued.
Maryland is riddled with city and county governments that have policies in place restricting how local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Baltimore, Baltimore County, Charles County, Howard County, Hyattsville, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Queen Anne’s County, Rockville and St. Mary’s County are all identified as “sanctuary” jurisdictions in Maryland, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that monitors such laws across the country.
Sanctuary laws, while not having any official definition, generally restrict how local and state law enforcement officers can work with ICE on the apprehension of an illegal migrant. Local governments in Maryland and ICE have continued to butt heads over these policies.
Amaya himself was arrested in Montgomery County, a locality that is identified as a sanctuary haven for illegal migrants and was subject to national media attention in 2019 over the repeated number of illegal migrants arrested for crime, forcing the county executive at the time to roll back on some of its sanctuary rules. ICE blasted law enforcement officials in Charles County last month for ignoring their detainer request and releasing an illegal migrant convicted of rape.
ICE officials in Maryland are also dealing with local governments allegedly handing out lenient sentences to sex offenders. One local news investigation in July discovered that Baltimore County Circuit Court judges repeatedly gave light sentences to individuals living in the U.S. unlawfully and charged with sex offenses.
The DCNF was on site for the ICE apprehension of 21-year-old Honduran national Darwin Adonai Garcia-Garcia in July. The illegal migrant was roaming free in the local community for roughly two months since a circuit court in Prince George’s County suspended nearly his entire 30-year prison sentence for sex crimes.
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