A Bay Area California sanctuary city refused to cooperate with ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) which ended up costing someone their life.
Nery Israel Estrada-Margos is the 38-year-old illegal immigrant who turned himself in for beating his girlfriend to death. The victim was 42-year-old Veronica Cabrera Ramirez.
Before the murder happened the police had Estrada-Margos in custody for felony domestic battery charges. This happened as a result of a heated argument between him and his girlfriend Ramirez.
Even though ICE officials had a retainer request lodged against Estrada-Margos, police still released him from custody on August 3 since he was able to post the $30,000 bail that was required.
Per Daily Caller:
Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano deflected blame from his county, an official sanctuary city, by giving misleading statements to local media outlets who then blamed ICE.
“We did notify ICE of his release date and time. Sometimes they pick up, sometimes they don’t,” Giordano said.
What Giordano did not tell reporters was that Sonoma County gave ICE officials only 16 minutes to travel over 60 miles to pick up Estrada-Margos before releasing him from custody – a distance that according to Google Maps can take 90 minutes to travel.
James Schwab, ICE’s spokesman in San Francisco, documented the incident in a statement given to The Daily Caller.
“Immigration detainers serve as a legally authorized request, upon which a law enforcement agency may rely, to continue to maintain custody of an alien for up to 48 hours so that ICE may assume custody for removal purposes,” Schwab wrote. “At 8:20 p.m. the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office notified ICE’s local office that Mr. Estrada was pending release. The Sheriff’s Office then released Mr. Estrada 16 minutes later at 8:36 p.m.”
Schwab noted that the “vast majority” of notifications that ICE receives from Sonoma County, especially over the last six months, “have failed to provide sufficient advance notification to pick up these criminals.”
“This case underscores yet again why immigration detainers are such a crucial enforcement tool and why it is highly problematic, and even tragic, when jurisdictions choose not to comply,” Schwab continued. “ICE continues to seek to collaborate with law enforcement agencies in northern California and nationwide to promote public safety and prevent potentially dangerous criminal aliens from being released back into our communities.”
Though President Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigrants, California has repeatedly defied those vows. Earlier this year California passed legislation that prohibits California law enforcement agencies from cooperating with ICE.
Situations like these make it very clear as to why President Trump vowed to fix the illegal immigration issues in this country.
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