WASHINGTON - October 20, 2011 - Chris Crane, president of a union that represents Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, testified in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration last week, on Oct. 12, that ICE agents have been told by ICE headquarters not to arrest illegal aliens who do not have a prior criminal conviction even if they are fugitives who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge or are individuals who have illegally re-entered the United States after being deported and thus have perpetrated a felony.
“ICE officers and agents were not permitted to arrest or even speak to confirmed or suspected illegal aliens encountered in the field during operations and were prohibited from running standard criminal record checks for wants and warrants,” Crane testified. Crane had previously testified about the matter in the subcommittee in late July.
“When I last testified before the subcommittee on July 25, 2011, I reported among other things that ICE enforcement removal officers and agents in the field stated that unwritten directives from ICE headquarters had been issued nationwide ordering officers not to arrest aliens unless it was confirmed that the alien had received a prior conviction for a criminal offense,” said Crane.
