Local law enforcement to notify ICE of migrants with administrative warrants
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio's two largest law enforcement agencies will now notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they encounter undocumented migrants with warrants for removal or deportation. This decision follows ICE's recent entry of more than 700,000 administrative warrants into a national crime database.
Erinaldy Agosto, a San Antonio immigration attorney, expressed concern over the new guidance given.
Records indicate that San Antonio police officers and Bexar County sheriff's deputies will contact ICE if they encounter undocumented immigrants with administrative warrants. Agosto noted that ICE's recent actions of entering warrants into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) mark a departure from the previous presidential administration's practices.
"They added over 700,000 people to the national crime information system that were not added before and these people that were added were people that had deportation orders," said Agosto.
An email sent to San Antonio Police Department officers this week instructed them to contact ICE if they receive alerts indicating that a person was previously deported or has an outstanding order of removal. SAPD provided the following statement regarding its cooperation with federal authorities:
“SAPD has a longstanding commitment to cooperating with federal authorities in the enforcement of immigration laws. We will continue to do so in accordance with applicable laws and the availability of resources.”
Body of email sent to SAPD officers this week:
ICE has begun the process of entering administrative (civil) arrest warrants (I-205) into NCIC. As a result, during everyday policing activities, you may encounter someone who has an ICE administrative arrest warrant entered into this system. Local law enforcement officers must have state criminal charges or other arrest authority to take the individual into custody.
Arrests on these administrative warrants (I-205) can only be made by federal agents/officers with immigration authority or a state/local officer who has been deputized.
If you do not have criminal charges on the person whom there is an administrative arrest warrant in NCIC, you should contact the ICE Law Enforcement Service Center at the phone number in the NCIC hit and request an ICE officer come to the scene to arrest the individual.
Please see below for the types of returns you may receive:
Deported Felon
WARNING REGARDING FOLLOWING RECORD - SUBJECT OF NIC/********* IS A
PREVIOUSLY DEPORTED FELON. CONTACT LESC AT (877) ***-**** FOR IMMEDIATE
HIT CONFIRMATION AND AVAILABILITY OF BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND
CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT DETAINER.
Absconder
WARNING REGARDING FOLLOWING RECORD - SUBJECT OF NIC/********* HAS AN OUTSTANDING ADMINISTRATIVE WARRANT OF REMOVAL FROM THE UNITED STATES. CONTACT LESC AT (877) ***-****FOR IMMEDIATE HIT CONFIRMATION AND AVAILABILITY OF BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT DETAINER.
Meanwhile, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office directed deputies to their policy on immigration-related laws, which states that individuals should not be referred to ICE unless they have a federal deportation warrant.
Agosto highlighted the implications of the new system. "Now, by having them in the national crime information system, what they're doing is - with police they have more manpower to find (undocumented immigrants)," said Agosto.
However, both memos clarify that local authorities cannot arrest individuals based solely on civil warrants.
"Now the problem is going to be, 'OK we know police saw them in the system,' but they have to call ICE and they have to see if ICE has people available to go pick that person up," he said.
Agosto expressed concern that the new policy could escalate minor police encounters, such as traffic stops. "If they see the sirens, they're gonna get stopped, (they may) just run for their life and it can be a problem," said Agosto.
Asked to confirm the 700,000+ figure and where detainees would be housed, a spokesperson for ICE provided the following statement:
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not comment on the agency’s internal methods for operational security reasons. With that said, the entry of arrest warrants into the National Crime Information Center is routine for law enforcement agencies nationwide and is a vital tool to protect public safety and reduce the amount of taxpayer resources needed to fund law enforcement at all levels of government. In recent years, millions of unvetted aliens, including some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members and criminal aliens, took advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to illegally enter the country. ICE is leveraging all available law enforcement resources to aggressively pursue these aliens to restore law and order in our communities and integrity to our nation’s immigration laws. By taking advantage of all lawful means to carry out our critical mission, it not only bolsters public safety, national security and border security, it also lessens the threat that our officers face each day when they bravely go out into the community to apprehend these violent criminal aliens.”
