Joe Biden’s latest efforts to reduce crackdowns on illegal immigration have drawn the ire of 18 state attorney generals, who are publicly urging him to reinstate a recently-canceled ICE operation that sought to arrest multiple illegal aliens who had been convicted of sex crimes, according to Fox News.
The operation, Operation Talon, was canceled in January after previously being authorized in the final weeks of President Donald Trump’s first term.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sent a letter to the Biden Administration that was signed by 17 other state AGs requesting that he reconsider the operation’s cancelation. In the letter, Schmitt says that “the cancellation of this program effectively broadcasts to the world that the United States is now a sanctuary jurisdiction for sexual predators. This message creates a perverse incentive for foreign sexual predators to seek to enter the United States illegally and assault more victims.”
The cancellation is the result of interim operating guidelines issued by Acting ICE Director Tae Johnson, who said in a letter to ICE employees on Thursday that these guidelines “will temporarily govern its civil immigration enforcement and removal operations.” The policies will remain in effect until newly-confirmed DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issues new enforcement procedures. The guidelines announced by Johnson had been ordered by Acting Secretary David Pekoske on January 20th, and specifically included suspension of apprehensions of gang members and other “priority noncitizens encountered during law enforcement operations.”
With this announcement, the Biden Administration continues its efforts to reverse virtually the entirety of the Trump Administration’s stricter immigration policies. Biden has ordered a halt on further construction of the border wall, restored the practice of “catch-and-release,” and is currently working with congressional Democrats on a mass amnesty bill for 11 million illegal aliens.