In what seems to be a part of the Trump administration’s ongoing marketing campaign in opposition to sanctuary cities, the Justice Division is investigating a sheriff in upstate New York who launched an undocumented man later taken into custody by federal brokers.
The US Legal professional’s workplace for the Northern District of New York “is wanting into the circumstances” surrounding the discharge by Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne of Jesus Romero-Hernandez, a 27-year-old Mexican citizen.
On this undated inventory picture, an aerial view reveals the city of Ithaca, N.Y.
STOCK PHOTO/Adobe Inventory
Romero-Hernandez pleaded responsible to a state assault cost and was sentenced to time served, necessitating his launch. He left native custody in Ithaca earlier than Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived to choose him up on a federal criticism charging him with illegally re-entering the US after a previous removing.
Ithaca adopted a sanctuary regulation in 2017.
ICE, the U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Safety Investigations later apprehended Romero-Hernandez.
“The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Workplace in Ithaca, NY, a self-described sanctuary metropolis, seems to have did not honor a sound federal arrest warrant for a prison alien with an assault conviction,” Appearing Deputy Legal professional Normal Emil Bove stated. “I applaud the U.S. Legal professional’s dedication to research these circumstances for potential prosecution.”
U.S. Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) police officer works in tactical gear on the day of immigration raids, Jan. 28, 2025, in New York.
@sec_noem/X by way of Reuters
Tompkins County and the Tompkins County Sheriff’s workplace issued a joint assertion refuting the DOJ’s claims.
The officers stated ICE was “notified of when the person in query was going to be launched and had each alternative to come back to the jail to acquire the person in query with none want for a pursuit or different incident.”
“There was no interference with federal immigration enforcement efforts. DOJ’s assertion that the Tompkins County Sheriff did something to place federal regulation enforcement officers in peril is fake and offensive,” the places of work stated.
Bove convened all 93 US lawyer’s places of work on a cellphone name on Thursday to convey that they need to concentrate on surging assets towards immigration enforcement. He likened the menace posed by undocumented immigrants to the menace posed by terrorists.
It represents a major shift for the Justice Division redirecting regulation enforcement assets away from earlier nationwide safety priorities and towards immigration enforcement.