The Trump administration has released the names of 608 people detained by immigration agents, and whose arrests might have violated a court order, and only 16 of them have been identified by the federal government as a “high public safety risk” because of their alleged criminal histories, according to court documents.
The list includes names, country of citizenship and whether they’ve been deported, remain in custody or voluntarily deported.Â
The list is topped by 16 people deemed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a “high public safety risk” because of their alleged criminal histories. Charges include aggravated assault, aggravated DUI, domestic battery and kidnapping. One person was deemed a national security risk, and another was identified as a “foreign criminal,” but no details were given.
The government was required to provide the list in court as a judge prepares to potentially release most of those people by next Friday, because their arrests potentially violated the terms of a court order restricting warrantless arrests.
Eric Balliet, a retired special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, worked for the department until last year after 25 years on the job, said the data regarding the ICE arrests erodes trust in the federal immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, in particular the Trump administration’s repeated claims that they are targeting the “worst of the worst.”
“It confuses the public. It certainly instills a sense of fear,” he said. “To go after violent criminals, that’s a lot of work. That’s a lot of effort. That’s a lot of time, and candidly, from the people I’ve talked to, the department and the agency doesn’t want to expense that time, that strategic and operational planning to actually get the worst of the worst.”
The government’s own data shows that 78% of the 608 people detained by federal immigration agents between June 12 and mid-October pose a low risk to public safety, while a total of 7% are considered high risk – though not all of those considered high risk have criminal histories.
Only 16 people on the list – or 2.6% – have criminal histories that the federal government deemed make them high risks to public safety.
“That’s not a good percentage, to say the least. I think it runs contradictory to what has been perpetuated over the last several months where this is a targeted enforcement operation designed to go after kind of the worst of the worst,” Balliet said.
The list of arrests that might have violated a court order comes as sources said U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino left Chicago on Thursday, following two months of controversial enhanced immigration enforcement efforts under Operation Midway Blitz.
Sources said Bovino could be on his way to Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I’m actually in West Virginia now, undergoing training with several hundred Border Patrol agents, and you’re going to see us redeploy to … it could be a New York, it could be a Chicago, it could be a Charlotte,” Bovino said in an interview on FOX News.
Bovino mentioned Chicago as a possible Border Patrol target, referencing the 614 people a federal judge ordered be released on bond from ICE detention by next Friday, while the court determines if federal agents violated a court order by arresting them. That court order prohibits warrantless arrests without probable cause.
The judge who ordered those people’s release conceded there might be some people on that list who are a flight risk or public safety threat, and has asked the government to identify those people.
“We’re going to go even harder on the streets. If he releases those 650, we’re going to apprehend 1,650 on the streets of Chicago,” Bovino said on FOX News.
Meanwhile, 13 other people detained by ICE have been ordered released from custody on Friday, after a federal judge affirmed their rights had been violated when they were arrested.
Sources said those people have been scattered across detention facilities around the country.
The Department of Homeland Security has said more than 3,300 people have been arrested during the ongoing immigration enforcement effort in the Chicago area, Operation Midway Blitz.Â
Meantime, it has been two weeks since Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she could provide a full list of names of people detained during Operation Midway Blitz.
A federal judge is also waiting on the same list, but Homeland Security has yet to make that list public.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who has issued a preliminary injunction limiting immigration agents’ use of force in Chicago, is planning to hold a hearing in March on whether to make that injunction permanent, ahead of when more Border Patrol agents might return to the area.
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