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ICE announced that it arrested 35 people in the Metro area between Monday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 25, including three from Westchester County.
Arrests were made in Mount Kisco, Peekskill, and Yonkers, of suspects with pending charges against them, including assault and drug offenses.
In Mount Kisco, a 35-year-old Guatemalan national had pending assault, aggravated harassment and criminal possession of controlled substance charges. In Peekskill, a 28-year-old Mexican national, and a 48-year-old Mexican national in Yonkers were arrested on pending criminal possession of controlled substance charges.
According to ICE, the suspects' releases came despite federal detainers “or before a detainer could be issued.” ICE didn’t list which category the Westchester arrests fell under.
The ACLU said that “an ICE detainer—or ‘immigration hold’—is one of the key tools ICE uses to apprehend individuals who come in contact with local and state law enforcement agencies and put them into the federal deportation system.
“An ICE detainer is a written request that a local jail or other law enforcement agency detain an individual for an additional 48 hours after his or her release date in order to provide ICE agents extra time to decide whether to take the individual into federal custody for removal purposes.”
According to the ACLU, “ICE’s use of detainers to imprison people without due process and, in many cases, without any charges pending or probable cause of any violation has raised serious constitutional concerns. Local law enforcement agencies run the risk of litigation and damages liability when they honor ICE detainer requests.”
“ICE remains steadfast and committed to our mission of locating and arresting those in the country in violation of immigration law, particularly those that pose a threat to public safety,” Thomas Feeley, an ICE ERO field office director said. “ICE officers will not be deterred by efforts of individuals or organized groups that seek to interfere with our impede our officers in the course of their official duties.”
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