'People in Los Angeles will die': DHS asks Sheriff Villanueva to rethink new sanctuary policy
LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES - 2019/02/27: Sheriff Alex Villanueva seen speaking to the media during a press conference in Los Angeles. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - A top official with the Department of Homeland Security said that Sheriff Alex Villanueva's new policy banning the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department from turning over any undocumented immigrants who commit crimes to ICE, no matter the severity of the crime, will result in the deaths of innocent people.
Ken Cuccinelli, serving as deputy secretary, penned a letter to Villanueva expressing his concerns about the policy, which was announced on August 18. He asked Villanueva to reconsider his position and said Villanueva's new policy is stricter than California's statewide policy, which broadly prevents cooperation with federal immigration authorities. According to Cuccinelli, the statewide policy "carves out an exception for certain extremely serious crimes," which Villanueva's does not.
"It is a no-brainer to say putting 180 murderers, 750 rapists and 1,400 weapons offenders back on the streets when they could have otherwise been removed from the country will lead to other murders, rapes and weapons offenses in that community," Cuccinelli told The Washington Times. “People in Los Angeles will die and be raped because of this sheriff’s actions, and those are victims that never had to be victims.”
Cuccinelli noted in his letter that Villanueva has publicly criticized the release of criminals due to COVID-19 "because they pose a threat to public safety and such releases may result in 'additional, preventable victims.'"
"Yet you allow criminals who are in your custody, and who pose the very same dangers, to walk out of the front door of your jails because of their immigration status — or lack thereof. This is pure hypocrisy that put real lives in danger," the letter reads.
In 2019, ICE flagged more than 11,500 undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department custody, Cuccinelli stated. They accounted for 180 homicide charges, 750 sex crimes, 1,400 weapons offenses, 680 robberies and more than 5,100 assaults.
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Villanueva stated earlier in the month that Los Angeles County will no longer transfer individuals to the custody of ICE based solely on a civil immigration detainer.
"In so doing, we have created a bright line between federal immigration enforcement and local law enforcement in the most populous county in the nation," he wrote in a statement. "I will not allow an entire segment of the population to be afraid to report crimes to law enforcement and be forced, again, back into the shadows."
"We will encourage ICE to use the constitutionally sound judicial warrant system, used by all other law enforcement agencies in the nation, to effect legal transfers from Los Angeles County to federal custody," said Villanueva.
FOX 11 has reached out to Villanueva for his response to Cuccinelli's letter and is waiting to hear back.