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  • The Center Square

    GOP lawmakers seek transparency on migrants with convictions living in Illinois

    By By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square,

    9 hours ago

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4EFymW_0vqgnVtQ00

    (The Center Square) – In the wake of a report detailing the hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals with criminal convictions living in the U.S., some Illinois lawmakers are demanding transparency at home.

    It comes following a startling admission from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which reported that 435,000 undocumented migrants with criminal convictions have been released by the agency to cities around the country.

    ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, saying as of July 21, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on the agency’s non-detained docket (NDD), meaning they are not detained while they await immigration proceedings, The Center Square reported .

    “Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals, and 226,847 have pending criminal charges,” Lechleitner wrote.

    State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said Illinois law prohibits law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. immigration authorities.

    “If ICE never knew they were there, which is the law in Illinois, then that person is going to walk right back out the jail door or the Department of Corrections door at the end of their sentence and right back into our local communities, and that’s the problem,” said Rose.

    Rose said with everything Gov. Pritzker has done to make Illinois a “homing beacon” for noncitizens, including free health care options, Illinois must be getting its fair share of undocumented criminals and he wants the state to reveal the numbers.

    ICE reports that nearly 16,000 noncitizens convicted of sexual assault have been released, and over 56,000 who have been convicted of drug possession were released.

    State Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, said Illinois’ Trust Act is tying the hands of law enforcement.

    “We have a large unknown number of noncitizens here with violent criminal convictions, or pending charges, and we can’t do anything about it,” said Tracy.

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    Comments / 29
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    Patricia Mexican
    13m ago
    ImmigrationDHS Says Data About Immigrants With Criminal History Is Being 'Misinterpreted' by Trump to Attack HarrisICE statistics quoted by Trump actually go back 40 years and include people who are currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partnersPedro Camacho Pedro Camacho / Published Oct 01 2024, 10:30 AM EDT
    David Shipley
    1h ago
    They have every right to know who they are allowing into our state. The sad part is, once again, the liberal democrats who run this state will put the safety of the criminals before the safety of the legal citizens.
    View all comments
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