Border Agents Are Refusing To Turn Illegal Alien Felons Over to Cali Police Over Fears They'll Be Released

Brittany M. Hughes | March 21, 2018
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Border patrol agents are reportedly refusing to hand illegal alien felons over to California law enforcement out of concern that the criminals will simply be released thanks to the state’s sanctuary policies.

The Daily Caller dug up a little-known statement written by Rodney Scott, the chief patrol agent for CBP’s San Diego Sector, explaining that some of his agents have declined to remand certain illegal alien felons with outstanding warrants over to local police because of the California Values Act, a recently passed state law that all but outright bans local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Thanks to these sanctuary policies, illegal aliens who are turned over to local law enforcement for criminal prosecution are usually released back into the community once they’ve served their time or been released by a court, rather than being turned back over to ICE for immigration proceedings.

Apparently, some border patrol agents have decided it’s not worth taking that public risk.

“In a little-reported declaration in support of the Department of Justice’s March 6 lawsuit against California, Scott recalled multiple instances in which a Border Patrol agent in the San Diego sector determined that releasing a criminal alien to a local law enforcement would likely result in the person being released without notification to federal authorities,” the Daily Caller explains.

“In each instance, the Border Patrol Agent determined it was not appropriate, consistent with his or her federal responsibilities to ensure the enforcement of immigration law, to release a criminal alien to the state and local law enforcement,” Scott said in a court declaration. “This was because, although the alien was subject to removal, if released to California law enforcement, the alien would ultimately be released into the public.”

Scott also slammed the state’s Assembly Bill 450, an October law that bans businesses from giving border agents access to “nonpublic” areas of their property without a warrant from a court.

“Scott says AB 450 has interfered longstanding working relationships between Border Patrol agents and local businesses, reducing agents’ ability to observe human smuggling and other cross-border crimes,” the Caller reports.

“If employers are not able to provide such consensual access, Border Patrol’s ability to detect and interdict real time illegal activity, ranging from criminal activity to the smuggling of narcotics to potential terrorists seeking to enter the United States, along the border will be diminished,” Scott said.

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