Tom Homan was the Acting Director of ICE under Trump. He knows the issue backwards and forwards and doesn’t like what he sees.

Homan: I watch in amazement as politicians and government officials who support defunding the police and sanctuary cities complain about crime in their districts.

These politicians and officials folded to the pro-illegal alien and open borders groups and supported sanctuary city policies that forbid them from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Many of these cities have kicked ICE out of their jails and refuse to honor their detainers, which is a request to hold that person who is in the country illegally so ICE can pick them up and enforce federal law by not only removing them from the community so they can’t reoffend, but also removing them from the country. Let’s not forget, these detainers are for people here in violation of federal immigration law who were still brazen enough to commit a crime against a U.S. citizen or someone in the immigrant community.

I saw Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva blame the rise in crime on lax prosecution by the District Attorney’s Office. I am sure that is part of the problem, however, this is the same sheriff who campaigned on kicking ICE agents out of his jails his first day in office, and he did! He has also failed to honor many ICE detainers. That decision has resulted in the release of public safety threats, who are in the country illegally, back into the community to reoffend instead of being turned over to ICE.

I have also seen Villanueva blame rising crime rates on the defunding of his department and the loss of positions. I will remind him that he also voluntarily gave up a lot of federal detention money when he chose to walk away from federal law enforcement. And he removed ICE law enforcement officers, who act as force multipliers, from his jail. It doesn’t make sense to use limited police resources (his words), to arrest individuals numerous times when you could have turned them over to ICE and had them removed from the country. That’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.

So, is the sheriff doing everything he can to reduce crime in Los Angeles County? He is quick to blame others, but his own policies have also added to the rise in crime.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is out there pledging a response to the crime wave, but he is the same guy who supports California being a sanctuary state – against the advice of the California Sheriffs Association. He supports SB-54, which ensures that no state or local resources are used to assist federal immigration enforcement. That law has done more harm to California’s crime rate than many of the other factors these left-leaning politicians want to blame. So, is Newsom doing everything he can legally do to reduce recidivism crime? No…

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An illegal alien is released from jail will most likely re-offend in the same community where they live, the immigrant community. A clear example is that MS-13 gang members almost always do their criminal activity within the immigrant community. How is releasing a child predator or someone convicted of assault back into the community protecting that community? It doesn’t. It only protects the illegal alien criminal.