ICE: Criminal immigrants freed because of COVID going back to crime

ICE delivered a pointed I-told-you-so Tuesday to a federal judge who freed more than 250 undocumented immigrants from detention because of the coronavirus, revealing that in less than two months, at least six of them already stand accused of more crimes.

One is accused of battery, while another was arrested on drunken-driving charges. Still another was arrested on an outstanding child sex-abuse warrant.

Others cut off their ankle bracelets and have disappeared, greatly reducing the chances of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recapturing them once the pandemic is over and they can be processed and deported.

“We were firm in our warning that these releases would impact public safety, and unfortunately, it did not take long for some of these criminal aliens to reoffend,” said acting ICE chief Tony H. Pham. “This proves that many of these aliens are recidivist offenders who should not have been released in the first place.”

ICE said in October that it had to release the migrants from its Adelanto facility in California after Judge Terry J. Hatter, a President Carter appointee, ruled that the facility was too packed for safety.

The facility, which can hold nearly 2,000 people usually, had fewer than 800 people, all of them considered must-detain cases by ICE. But Judge Hatter ordered 50 releases a day until the number was cut to 475 people or fewer.

ICE said it warned the judge about the records of those he was forcing to be released in late October.

In the weeks since, one 50-year-old man from India was arrested by the Ventura Police Department over an outstanding warrant for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under age 14.

A 56-year-old Mexican was arrested by Newport Beach Police and accused of disorderly conduct under the influence of drugs, and for contempt of court. A 34-year-old Mexican was arrested in El Segundo on suspicion of burglary, grand theft, and having a loaded gun and drug paraphernalia.

In releasing people, ICE demanded they be fitted with GPS bracelets to monitor their whereabouts, required them to provide accurate addresses, and set check-ins.

But Mr. Pham said some have cut the bracelets, and others have disappeared from the locations they said they’d be, or missed check-ins.

The pandemic has forced population cuts at prisons, jails and detention facilities across the country.

ICE cut its numbers by nearly 50% in the early months — sometimes under court order.

But a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October concluded that infection rates in ICE facilities from April to August was still 13 times higher than the general population.

In Adelanto, ICE has recorded 257 cases since the start of the pandemic, and currently has 15 active cases. Adelanto reports no COVID-related deaths in custody. Nationwide, ICE says eight detainees have died in custody from COVID.