Federal records show that there are more than 662,566 immigrant criminals on the national docket who have not been detained, including 435,719 who have been convicted of crimes, after several municipalities have refused to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to communications from Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner.
"Some jurisdictions have reduced their cooperation with ICE, to include refusal to honor ICE detainer requests, even for noncitizens who have been convicted of serious felonies and pose an ongoing threat to public safety," Lechleitner wrote in a letter dated Sept. 25 to Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, which Newsmax obtained Friday.
As of July 21, 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories were on ICE's national docket, including those detained by ICE or on the agency's non-detained docket.
"Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals, and 226,847 have pending criminal charges," Lechleitner said, providing information Gonzales requested in March.
Newsmax reached out to ICE and Gonzales for confirmation and comment on the statements made in the letter.
"ICE recognizes that some jurisdictions are concerned that cooperating with federal immigration officials will erode trust with immigrant communities and make it harder for local law enforcement to serve those populations," Lechleitner added. "However, 'sanctuary' policies can end up shielding dangerous criminals, who often victimize those same communities."
According to numbers provided in the letter — following up a request made in March by Gonzales — the numbers of those not detained include 65,000 for assault, nearly 16,000 for sexual assault, 56,000 for drug charges, and 13,000 for homicide. There are 222,000 with pending criminal charges.
Lechleitner noted the challenges of operating with a broken immigration system, as well as an "enormous workload and consistently limited funding" and insisted the Department of Human Services continues to enforce the nation's laws to secure the borders.
"We are removing and returning record numbers of migrants who are unable to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States, and prioritizing for removal those who present national security and public safety risks, and recent border crossers," Lechleitner said.
He noted that from May 2023 through the end of July, 893,600 people, including more than 138,300 in family units, were removed or returned from the U.S.
"The majority of all individuals encountered at the Southwest Border over the past three years have been removed, returned, or expelled," Lechleitner said.
He said ICE is bound by statutory requirements not to release certain noncitizens from custody, including noncitizens convicted of homicide. ICE officers may also, in some limited circumstances, use their discretion on custody determinations, the letter said.
Lechleitner also provided information, as requested, on ICE's current detention capacity.
"Under the DHS appropriations bill enacted on March 23, 2024, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is funded at 41,500 beds through the rest of the fiscal year (FY), which is an increase from 34,000 in FY 2023," he wrote. "Regarding the number of declined detainers since FY 2021, from October 1, 2020, through July 22, 2024, ICE lifted1 24,796 detainers. Of those, 23,591 were declined by state and local law enforcement agencies, and 1,205 were lifted due to insufficient notice to ICE."
ERO also issued 2,897 detainers that were declined by state or local law enforcement officials, Lechleitner wrote.
In March, Gonzales called on the Biden administration to take "aggressive action" to increase pressure on sanctuary cities, leading to the request from ICE.
Gonzales told Fox News at the time that Tren De Aragua, a violent Venezuelan street gang, was "going to be entrenched in all our cities" and said that sanctuary cities must work with law enforcement.
"I want to empower ICE to go out there and catch these bad actors," Gonzales said. "This is no longer a partisan issue. I think there's a lot of fertile ground for you to get people to agree on it."