Some Democratic sanctuary cities are quietly cooperating with ICE, acting director says

SEATTLE - Cities across the United States are rethinking their sanctuary city policies and increasing their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as public concern about crime is on the rise, P.J. Lechleitner, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Deputy Director said.

In an interview with NBC News, Lechleitner said that some counties and cities that previously refused to tell ICE when they were releasing undocumented immigrants from jail are now cooperating to seek better ways to communicate with the agency when migrants convicted of violent crimes are being released.

"For many, many years, certain states and jurisdictions just have been really reticent about dealing with us because of the civil immigration piece of it," he said.

Previously, jurisdictions with Democratic or progressive leadership had been refusing to work with ICE out of concern it might inhibit the investigation of crimes. However, some big cities have started to change their approach in the interest of public safety. Lechleitner also mentioned that some authorities have had incidents where they have regretted releasing migrants they had detained.

"You've seen some examples of this, where some individuals, unfortunately, were encountered by local law enforcement and because of the policies put in place, either at the state or local level, they weren't allowed to notify immigration authorities ... and all of a sudden you have people being released and reoffending," the ICE Director added.

The Maryland counties of Baltimore and Montgomery are two of the jurisdictions now working with ICE as they try to balance the need to keep the trust of the county's immigrant population and their concerns for public safety.

According to law enforcement official Earl Stoddard, Montgomery County now gives ICE a 48-hour notice before releasing migrants from custody. Baltimore County has also taken a similar approach.

Concerns over crimes committed by migrants have become one of the main talking points by Donald Trump and other Republicans when mentioning the country's immigration problem. At last week's Republican National Convention, Trump continued to blame illegal immigrants for fueling violent crimes despite several studies showing that immigrants are not more likely to engage in criminality.

Last month, the number of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol was the lowest monthly number since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, resulting in just over 84,000 arrests. The number of apprehensions in June was nearly 30% lower than in May, with the Biden administration attributing the decline of illegal crossings to the new asylum restrictions the president announced in early June.