Congressman Ken Calvert has reintroduced legislation aimed at enhancing community safety by ensuring that dangerous criminals are not released onto the streets. The proposed bill, H.R. 1821, known as the Help Ensure Legal Detainers (HELD) Act, seeks to incentivize state and local law enforcement agencies to comply with federal requests regarding the transfer of custody of criminal illegal immigrants for their removal.
“When states and local law enforcement agencies refuse to turn over illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes to federal law enforcement for removal from our country they are putting our communities at risk,” stated Rep. Calvert. “The HELD Act is rooted in the widespread belief that dangerous and violent criminal illegal immigrants should be given a one-way ticket out of our country. America is a nation of immigrants, but we are a beacon of hope throughout the world because we respect and enforce the rule of law.”
Since California’s SB 54 was enacted in 2017, making it a sanctuary state, there have been instances where detainers were ignored, leading to serious consequences.
The HELD Act proposes denying federal funding to any state or locality with policies preventing local law enforcement from maintaining custody of an illegal immigrant per a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer. The bill specifically requires:
– Local municipalities to promptly respond to an ICE detainer notice issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security requesting information about an illegal immigrant in custody so that arrangements can be made for their transfer.
– Local municipalities to maintain custody of an illegal immigrant for up to 48 hours following an immigration detainer so that they can be transferred into DHS custody.
An exception is included in cases where counties have policies against cooperating with ICE while cities within those counties do not. In such scenarios, federal funding would bypass the county and go directly to compliant cities.
