The head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in New York City is calling for a reform of sanctuary city policies to address the increasing issue of illegal immigrant crimes. ICE clarified misconceptions about their enforcement actions, emphasizing that they only target serious criminals who have been ordered to be deported.
Recently, there was a sexual assault case on Coney Island where two undocumented immigrant suspects were arrested, and a series of robberies occurred in the Central Park area. On August 22, Kenneth Genalo, the director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) field office in New York City, spoke to PIX11 about the current immigration crime problems in the city and urged for reforms in the sanctuary city policy to tackle the rising cases of illegal immigrant crimes.
Genalo stated that ICE works every day to eliminate public safety threats in the community, but the current sanctuary city policy makes it difficult for them to collaborate with local law enforcement agencies like the NYPD, thereby weakening the ability to maintain city safety.
“The problem we’re facing is clearly the need to cooperate with our law enforcement partners in this city, especially the NYPD,” he said. Before the strict sanctuary city policy under former Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, “we would have basic cooperation, besides special task forces, we would communicate with each other, but now all of that is gone.”
Genalo mentioned that cities like Baltimore, Maryland, and Montgomery County were also sanctuary cities, but since they decided to change their policies and actively cooperate with ICE, the cities have become safer.
However, ICE’s handling of illegal immigrant crimes in the past has raised public attention and questions. ICE enforcement records show that in September 2017, ICE conducted a 5-day enforcement operation in New York City, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island, arresting over 80 individuals violating U.S. immigration laws.
Genalo emphasized that ICE’s actions are targeted enforcement, not the “random raid searches” misunderstood by the public. He pointed out that ICE’s mission is to arrest individuals who have been legally determined to be deported, especially those involved in serious crimes.
Regarding the future changes in sanctuary city policies, Genalo revealed that he has been in talks with the mayor’s office and hopes to continue discussions with the city council on this issue, and recently, including the mayor and the police department, have all expressed the need to cooperate with ICE.
Despite the local law enforcement agencies’ inability to cooperate with ICE enforcement, ICE still has the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.
According to The Epoch Times, in April of this year, ICE took action independently in New York City and arrested a 21-year-old Venezuelan undocumented immigrant, Brayan Freites-Macias. This individual had been arrested multiple times for criminal activities since illegally entering the U.S. but was released each time. ICE had repeatedly requested detention of the criminal from the New York City Department of Corrections and the police department, but all requests were denied. It wasn’t until ICE bypassed the local government and deployed a special operation team to arrest him.