An illegal criminal alien recently released from custody by the sanctuary city of Denver is now wanted for murder after shooting a man at a train station, just weeks after local law enforcement ignored an immigration detainer and put him back in the streets.
While the media ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying desperately to slam President Donald Trump for every deportation they can ferret out, 19-year-old Ever Valles was released from custody after serving time for car theft and other charges.
Just six weeks later, Valles robbed and murdered 32-year-old Timothy Cruz at a local train station on Feb. 7. Another man, 19-year-old Nathan Valdez, a U.S. citizen, has also been charged.
According to FOX31 in Denver, Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed an immigration detainer on Valles after his arrest in October, stating they planned to take custody of him for immigration violations after he’d served his time in the local prison. The report added ICE listed Valles as an immigration priority because of his criminal history and his known gang affiliation.
However, FOX31 noted that ICE was only given a 25-minute warning before the Denver Sheriff Department released Valles from their custody – not nearly enough time for immigration officers to respond and pick him up.
Despite the fact that an innocent person is now dead, the sheriff’s department is actually defending their clearly poor choice to release Valles. From FOX31:
In a statement issued Tuesday, the sheriff department said it has "no legal ability" to hold a person without a warrant.
"Denver has never, and will never, condone dangerous or violent individuals being on our streets, immigrants or not. However, detaining anyone without a criminal warrant is a violation of the 4th Amendment," officials said.
"Once individuals in Denver’s jails post a bond, the Sheriff Department has no legal ability to hold them without a warrant, as was the case with Ever Valles.
Unfortunately for the Denver Sheriff Department, and for Timothy Cruz, this statement completely contradicts federal law, which permits local and state law enforcement to hold a criminal alien for up to 48 hours beyond the end of their time served to allow ICE to take custody of the person for immigration proceedings. The local law enforcement agency is also asked to notify ICE when the alien’s sentence is about to expire to give immigration officers time to respond.
So-called “sanctuary cities” like Denver are those localities that refuse to recognize or honor ICE detainers, and instead simply release a criminal alien back onto the streets after their sentence is up.
Denver officials rather emptily added that they want “a better system for all of us to focus on criminals who mean harm while protecting residents who work hard every day and provide for their families.”
“Denver is focused on enacting policies and practices that protect people’s safety and their rights, including the rights of immigrants, while allowing federal authorities to focus on immigration enforcement that removes dangerous and violent felons from our streets," they said.
A fat lot of good that did for Timothy Cruz.