White House calls for sanctuary cities to cooperate with ICE amid furor over illegal immigrant crimes

The White House is calling for "sanctuary" cities and jurisdictions across the U.S. to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in turning over criminal illegal immigrants for deportation, just as there is renewed scrutiny over such policies in the wake of several high-profile crimes committed by illegal immigrants who had previously been released by local law enforcement despite pleas from ICE. 

"We welcome local law enforcement’s support and cooperation in apprehending and removing individuals who pose a risk to national security or public safety," a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday in response to a question about its stance on sanctuary cities. "When a local jurisdiction has information about an individual who could pose a threat to public safety, we want them to share that information with ICE." 

"Just since May 12, DHS has removed or returned more than 565,000 individuals — the vast majority of whom crossed the Southwest Border. 565,000 removals and returns is more than every full fiscal year since 2013," they said.

Sanctuary cities either limit or outright forbid law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers, which are requests from the agency that ICE be notified ahead of their release from state custody and allowed to transfer illegal immigrant criminals into custody. This week it was revealed by ICE that the alleged killer of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was previously arrested in New York City, but that he was released before ICE could issue a detainer.

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Separately, there have been other alleged crimes committed by illegal immigrants, including an arrest in connection to the murder of a 2-year-old in Maryland, who had detainers lodged against them but were not honored by authorities. ICE announced this week the arrest and conviction of a Guatemalan illegal immigrant for the sexual assault of a child in Boston. He has been released despite ICE lodging a detainer against him.

President Biden is set to travel to the southern border in Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley on Thursday. He will meet with Border Patrol, law enforcement and local leaders. The White House said Biden will renew his calls for Congress to pass a bipartisan border agreement, which would have increased staffing for the border as well as tightening asylum rules and increasing funding to communities and NGOs receiving migrants.

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"He will discuss the urgent need to pass the Senate bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border in decades," a spokesperson said. "He will reiterate his calls for Congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more."

Proponents of sanctuary policies argue that they are not obligated to help federal immigration enforcement and that it can encourage otherwise-lawful illegal immigrants to talk to police if they do not fear deportation. As a result, there are now sanctuary jurisdictions across the U.S.

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As a presidential candidate in 2020, Biden appeared supportive of such policies. In a March 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate, he answered "no" when asked if "undocumented immigrants" arrested by local police should be turned over to immigration officials.

In his first days in office, Biden’s administration announced a 100-day moratorium on all deportations, which was eventually blocked by a federal judge. It also reversed Trump-era limits on DOJ funding grants that were tied to cooperation with immigration enforcement, meaning that they excluded sanctuary cities.

But Biden’s ICE has continued to criticize sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with them. Acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner recently told Fox News that such jurisdictions are "inherently more unsafe."

"It is a concern, and I’m very baffled by it," he said.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas previously told mayors in 2022 that he would be seeking to convince leaders to change their policies.

"Some of your cities, by reason of past history, have declined to cooperate with immigration authorities in the removal, the apprehension and removal of individuals, even if those individuals pose a public safety threat. And I do not mean to suggest that distrust, if that is one of the concerns underlying policies such as that, I don't mean to assert that that distrust is not earned," he told the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Mayorkas emphasized that under the administration, immigration enforcement is limited to recent border crossings, public safety threats and national security threats unlike under the Trump administration.

"But what I want to communicate to you is that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, the agency of today and what it is focused upon, and what it is doing, is not the agency of the past. We are not engaged in indiscriminate enforcement, but we are focused on making our communities safe and allowing those who have been contributors to it and productive members of it, to allow them to continue in their contributions and their productivity," he said.

"And so, I will be coming to you and asking you to reconsider your position of non-cooperation and see how we can work together."

There are some indications that some sanctuary city leaders are now reconsidering their positions. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said multiple times this week that he wants to soften the policy.

"I don’t believe people who are violent in our city and commit repeated crimes should have the privilege of being in our city," Adams said Tuesday. 

He added, "You don’t have the right to be in our city and tarnish the overwhelming number who are here following the rules."