‘Safe jurisdictions’ increasingly cooperating with ICE, though many wish to remain anonymous

Patrick Lechleitner, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), argued in an interview with NBC News that some local governments that previously refused to cooperate with federal authorities responsible for immigration, reverse their policies.

Lechleitner explained that governors of so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” begin by notifying ICE before releasing illegal immigrants convicted of crimes;

According to him, many of these progressive politicians asked the agency to keep their collaboration secret.

Lechleitner noted that the relief effort comes after a number of local authorities had to release illegal immigrants who had been convicted of crimes related to their reception policies, only to reoffend:

“You’ve seen examples of this where some individuals, unfortunately, have been picked up by local law enforcement and because of policies that have been put in place at the state or local level, they’re not allowed to notify immigration authorities … and all of a sudden people are being released and they’re reoffending,” he said.

Montgomery County, Maryland, is one of the counties that ICE reached out to, but not one that asked to remain anonymous. While the Democratic-led Maryland county is not officially a sanctuary city, Earl Stoddard, deputy chief administrator, explained that pressure from citizens led to the local government having to distance itself from its de facto policy of failure to cooperate with federal authorities.

In February, Stoddard sat in on a meeting with ICE officials after agency members complained to local authorities about their lack of cooperation. Montgomery now notifies ICE 48 hours before releasing immigrants from police custody.