The Trump administration’s mass deportation effort has created a widespread disruption to America’s criminal justice system and prevented some victims from getting justice, according to a report unveiled Tuesday by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.
The report, first shared with NOTUS, highlights cases around the country where Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported or sought to deport criminal defendants before their trials or ahead of expected convictions. Key prosecution witnesses have also been removed from the country, the report says.
It concludes that the push for mass deportations is handing criminals without legal status “get-out-of-jail-free” cards.
“DHS is blocking prosecutions, denying victims their day in court, and allowing perpetrators to escape accountability,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee. “This report shows how a reckless, quota-driven approach to immigration enforcement is undermining public safety, due process and the rule of law while robbing victims and robbing families of access to courts and accountability.”
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For example, House Democrats pointed to a Texas Tribune story about ICE deporting an assault victim in Texas before the man accused of fracturing his face could be brought to trial.
The Democrats’ report also claims that investigations and prosecutions of violent crimes are being neglected because the Trump administration has reallocated federal law enforcement resources to focus on immigration.
“Democrats let 10 million illegal migrants into the country under the Biden Administration and protect criminal aliens in their sanctuary jurisdictions every day,” a spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee told NOTUS. “Americans are smart and know that enforcing immigration law is common sense.”
Representatives for ICE didn’t respond to a request for comment.
More than 28,000 employees from federal agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, have been shifted to work on civil immigration enforcement, according to a report from the libertarian Cato Institute cited by the House Democrats.
Staff and other resources from national security programs across the departments of homeland security, justice and state have been redirected to support mass deportations, NOTUS previously reported. Even senior staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in charge of disaster response are coordinating federal employees to volunteer to work at the southern border.
The Trump administration has pushed back on Democratic criticism, arguing the country is safer because of the effort to deport undocumented immigrants.
“No matter what the media says, no matter what they say about us, what we do is keep the community safe,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week.
Democrats pointed to statistics showing the deportation effort has negatively affected other criminal justice pursuits. In the last fiscal year, narcotics arrests fell by about 11% and federal agents seized 73% fewer weapons, according to The New York Times.
“By forcing immigrants into the shadows and redirecting law enforcement to immigration enforcement, DHS is denying justice and restitution to survivors of violence while putting Americans in danger,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington.
Democrats also called attention to ICE’s actions in nabbing suspects facing ongoing prosecutions, a move that has sparked conflicts with local jurisdictions. In Wisconsin, for example, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office objected to ICE detaining Noelia Martinez-Avila, a woman from Honduras accused of killing two teenagers while allegedly driving while intoxicated.
A judge ordered that Martinez-Avila be returned to the county jail after ICE arrested her when her attorney posted a $250,000 bond. ICE, in a press release, labeled her arrest as a success in a “sanctuary jurisdiction.”
The Democrats’ report notes that some of the people the Department of Homeland Security has highlighted as the “worst of the worst” ICE has arrested were actually brought into the United States by the federal government.
NOTUS reported in March some immigrants the administration deported were brought to America in prison transfers. That includes a Belarusian woman who was extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to smuggling plane parts, then was detained by ICE soon after she arrived, The Guardian reported in December.
“Another bizarre tactic of the Administration is expending federal resources to extradite accused criminals to the United States, only to turn around and attempt to deport them prior to their trials or in the middle of their custodial sentences,” the House Judiciary Democrats’ report says.
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