LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – While Michigan isn’t officially a sanctuary state, the city of Lansing and nine of its counties have rolled out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), who updated their interactive map of sanctuary cities, counties and states on August 27th, jurisdictions like the city of Lansing and the counties of Kalamazoo, Kent, Leelanau, Luce, Muskegon, Oakland, Washtenaw, Wayne, and Wexford have adopted policies that limit cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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These areas operate as sanctuary zones where local authorities often refuse to honor ICE detainers for individuals charged or convicted of crimes, resulting in a revolving door that sees criminal aliens released back into the public.
These locations, according to CIS have laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from ICE. They do so by refusing to or prohibiting agencies from complying with ICE detainers, imposing unreasonable conditions on detainer acceptance, denying ICE access to interview incarcerated aliens or impeding communications or information exchanges between their personnel and federal immigration officers.
Crime rates and lax policies – a recipe for disaster.
A lack of cooperation with federal immigration authorities can lead to serious consequences because detainers, according to CIS, are the primary tools that ICE uses to gain custody of criminal aliens for deportation. It is considered a notice to another law enforcement agency that ICE intends to assume custody of an alien and includes information on the alien’s previous criminal history, immigration violations and their potential threat to public safety or security.
Kent County has denied their sanctuary county status after the public media coverage of the murder of 25-year-old Ruby Garcia brought their CIS designation to light. Their county commissioners put out a statement saying, “We will not remain passive while outside institutions seek to place misdirected blame on our community, especially as the federal government’s inaction and incompetence stand in the way of meaningful policy solutions.”
And while CIS said they’d remove Kent Country from their list of sanctuary jurisdictions, they are still on the map, listed as “limited cooperation.”
Sanctuary advocates and the Klan comparison.
Sanctuary supporters, including prominent figures like Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have often been vocal in their criticism of ICE. Harris, during her time as a senator, likened ICE’s activities to those of the Ku Klux Klan, further polarizing the debate on immigration enforcement.
While proponents for sanctuary jurisdictions argue that sanctuary policies protect immigrant communities from discrimination and encourage cooperation with local law enforcement, critics see them as a public safety hazard, leaving communities vulnerable to crime.
Michigan Republican Leader Matt Hall leads crack down on sanctuary policies.
House Republican Leader Matt Hall has been calling for a crackdown on local policies in the state that prevent law enforcement from fully cooperating with federal immigration officials. Hall argues that so-called sanctuary policies, which include refusing to honor detainer requests from ICE, jeopardize public safety by allowing illegal immigrants who have committed crimes to remain on the streets.
To address this, Hall introduced House Bills 4879 and 4880 nine months ago to ban all sanctuary policies in Michigan. Despite his best efforts, House Democrats have yet to give the bills a hearing, leaving them to gather dust in the Committee on Government Operations. Hall argues that local governments refusing to detain illegal immigrants are essentially offering sanctuaries for criminals, endangering Michigan families.
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