U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) has reintroduced the Help Ensure Legal Detainers (HELD) Act to keep communities safe from crime.
“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,” Calvert said, according to his website. “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."
The HELD Act is aimed at preventing dangerous criminals from being released onto the streets by incentivizing state and local law enforcement agencies to comply with federal law enforcement requests to transfer the custody of criminals in the country illegally for their removal.
There have been repeated instances of ignored detainers resulting in dangerous and deadly consequences since former Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 54 into law, making California a sanctuary state, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“For decades, immigration officers have used detainers as a collaborative law enforcement tool to request critical law enforcement cooperation," the website of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. "Notifying ICE of the upcoming release of a noncitizen who has been arrested for a criminal violation, unrelated to their immigration status, underscores the importance of information sharing between partners who ultimately share the same goal: to serve and protect our communities.”
According to Calvert's website, the HELD Act would work by denying all federal funding to any state or locality that has an existing law or policy that prevents local law enforcement from keeping person who is in the country illegally in custody, pursuant to an ICE detainer. Specifically, the bill would require local municipalities to promptly respond to an ICE detainer notice, issued by the DHS secretary, that seeks information about a person who is in the country illegally, who is in custody, in order to arrange for their custody.
In addition, under the HELD Act, local municipalities must hold a person who is in the country illegally for up to 48 hours, pursuant to an immigration detainer that turns over the immigrant to DHS.
An exception in the bill applies to counties with a policy in place that prevents local law enforcement from working with ICE, while cities within that county may have no such policy. In these cases, the federal funding that would normally go through the county would go directly to the city instead.