Federal immigration authorities, surrounded by sanctuary zones, have managed to arrest a record number of foreign sex offenders this year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents based in the agency's Baltimore office have arrested 161 foreign sex offenders so far this year, an agency spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday. The figure surpasses the previous record of 152 sex offenders arrested by ICE agents in a single fiscal year. (Related article: ICE confirms man arrested for chaining child is illegal immigrant previously deported)
Baltimore deportation officer First Broken On August 29, police arrested Madai Gamaliel Amaya, an illegal Honduran immigrant convicted of rape, marking the department's 153rd arrest of a sex offender.
“The arrest of Madai Gamaliel Amaya highlights the incredible work ERO officers do every day,” said ERO Vice President Daniel Bible. “This marks a landmark arrest for ERO Baltimore. We have arrested a record 153 foreign sex offenders in our operating area in a single fiscal year, but more importantly, thanks to ERO officers, 153 victims no longer need to fear their perpetrators.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 14: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detain immigrants in Los Angeles, California on October 14, 2015. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
“This arrest highlights the incredible enforcement action conducted by ERO officers across our country,” Bible continued.
Numerous city and county governments in Maryland have implemented policies that restrict how local law enforcement agencies can cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Baltimore, Baltimore County, Charles County, Howard County, Hyattsville, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Queen Anne's County, Rockville, and St. Mary's County are all designated as “sanctuary” jurisdictions in Maryland. According to The Center for Immigration Studies is an organization that monitors such laws across the country.
Sanctuary laws have no official definition, but they generally limit how local and state law enforcement officials can work with ICE to arrest illegal immigrants. Local governments in Maryland and ICE continue to clash over these policies.
Amaya himself was arrested in Montgomery County, a known haven for illegal immigrants that drew national media attention in 2019 after multiple arrests of illegal immigrants for crimes forced the county's then-mayor to roll back some of its refuge rules. ICE slammed Charles County last month for its law enforcement officers ignoring detention requests and releasing an illegal immigrant convicted of rape.
ICE officials in Maryland have also taken action against local governments for giving light sentences to sex offenders: A local news investigation in July found that a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge had repeatedly given light sentences to individuals who were in the U.S. illegally and charged with sex crimes.
DCNF was on-site during the July arrest by ICE of 21-year-old Honduran national Darwin Adonai Garcia-Garcia. The undocumented immigrant had been roaming free in the local community for nearly two months after a Prince George's County Circuit Court suspended most of his 30-year sentence for sex offenses.
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