August 6, 2015

BOURNE – Barnstable County Sheriff Jim Cummings says a “failed immigration policy” threatens to put dangerous illegal immigrants back on the streets of Cape Cod and the nation.

The sheriff on Wednesday called on President Barack Obama to use the power of the Executive Order to detain any illegal immigrant charged with a crime that endangers public safety.

Cummings said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) routinely asks sheriffs around the country to detain inmates but fails to provide justification and the legal authority to do so.

The sheriff and other law enforcement officials said that without the appropriate legal authority to detain someone, sheriffs risk legal liability.

“The burden of the failed federal immigration policy has flowed downhill to sheriffs, state and local law enforcement. The public has a right to know how the federal government’s failure to detain potentially dangerous illegal immigrants impacts Cape Cod and the entire nation,” Cummings said, during a briefing outside his office in Bourne Wednesday.

He was joined by Barnstable County Special Sheriff Jeff Perry, Plymouth County Sheriff Joe McDonald, and other law enforcement officials.

Cummings said he has no real authority to detain a person on immigration charges under the current system.

As an example, the sheriff pointed to Nikolay Simeonov, an inmate who has been in custody at the Barnstable County Jail since early July on child pornography charges.

Cummings said Simeonov’s visa expired in 2012. If someone posted his $10,000 bond, Cummings said there would be nothing he could do to hold Simeonov under the current immigration laws.

“As sheriffs across the nation are directly involved in the detention of illegal immigrants, it is important that we let out voice be heard in support of this necessary federal immigration reform,” he said.

“When ICE fails to respond and detain an illegal immigrant when they are bailed or otherwise released on state charges, the problem becomes one of community security and an increased risk to the general public,” Cummings said.

The sheriff said that problem could be fixed by legislation proposed by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) that would ensure cooperation between state, local and federal officials.

Cummings said the proposed law would empower ICE officers to enforce immigration laws and clarify the authority of sheriffs to honor federal detainers, while providing the legal authority to do so.

According to figures released by Senator Sessions’ office, ICE has released 76,000 convicted criminal aliens back onto the streets in the last two years.

Of the criminal illegal immigrants who have been ordered deported in the last few years and released by federal immigration officials, 121 are facing new homicide charges.

http://www.capecod.com/newscenter/sh...ration-policy/