Mexico Migrant Caravan
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers walks along a wall at the border between Mexico and the United States, as seen from San Diego on Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018. Migrants approaching the U.S. border from Mexico were enveloped with tear gas Sunday after a few tried to breach a fence separating the two countries. The Border Patrol office in San Diego said via Twitter that pedestrian crossings have been suspended at the San Ysidro port of entry at both the East and West facilities. All northbound and southbound traffic was halted. (AP Photo/Greg Bull)
In an interview with Fox News, ICE Acting Director Matthew Albence tore into Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over her continued defense of sanctuary policies.
Matthew’s remarks follow the case of an allegedly-abused toddler.
Recently, the Windy City ignored an ICE detainer on a Mexican national illegally in the country, releasing him back onto the streets.
Now, the man’s been accused of sexually abusing a 3-year-old girl in a bathroom stall.
To Matthew, it’s incredibly hypocritical:
“I think it’s the height of hypocrisy. I can tell you, I’ve been firsthand trying to work with the city of Chicago for the better part of a decade to get them to cooperate with us so we can get criminals off the streets.”
In June, ICE lodged a detainer against 34-year-old Christopher Puente, who had several felony convictions — plus one prior deportation in 2014.
In 2017, a judge had ordered a 2nd deportation, but the guy never showed up to court.
At the time of the detainer, he’d been arrested for theft.
Chicago law enforcement ignored the request, and last month, he was taken in for assault.
Here’s more, from Chicago’s Fox32:
Christopher Puente, 34, faces a felony charge of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under the age of 13 and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespassing, Chicago police said.
About 1 a.m. Wednesday, Puente allegedly refused to leave a business in the 500 block of North Dearborn Street and was arrested for trespassing, police said.
While investigating, officers recognized him as being the man pictured in a recently circulated community alert, asking for help identifying a man wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl Monday at a restaurant in the 600 block of North Clark Street.
Back to Fox News:
[P]rosecutors said the attack happened after the little girl’s father took his son and daughter to the men’s bathroom at a fast-food restaurant, taking the boy into a stall but leaving the girl outside.
Prosecutors say Puente then motioned for the girl to enter his stall, locked it, held the victim by the back of her head and covered her mouth. They say the girl’s father heard her cries and frantically tried to open the stall — he was able to see her feet dangling off the ground. He eventually grabbed her legs and pulled her out from under the stall. The girl was later hospitalized.
When asked about the situation, Mayor Lori lay the blame on…ICE:
“They’re critical because we have said very clearly we are a welcoming city, a sanctuary city. Chicago Police Department will not cooperate with ICE on any immigration-related business. And that’s affected their ability to conduct immigration raids across the city. But that’s exactly our intention. We have to make sure that our police department is seen as a legitimate force in all our communities.”
Lightfoot said she’s open to federal partnerships only “in a way that is consistent with [Chicago’s] values as a city. If ICE is complaining, then they should do their job better.”
Matthew made clear he was unimpressed:
“They’ve cut out our information sharing ability, they’ve cut off our ability to get individuals they have in custody turned over to us, they’ve cut us out of the gang database.
“So for the mayor to sit there and say ICE should do its job better — we’d love to do our job better, but we depend on the cooperation of other law enforcement agencies, just like Chicago Police Department does. When they are working a case, they rely on the cooperation of other law enforcement agencies as well, that’s how law enforcement works — information sharing, intelligence sharing, and the sharing and pooling of resources.
The director believes the case of the little girl is just one example of what’s happening, thanks to a lack of governmental cooperation.
“We have seen time and time again, unfortunately, way too many tragic circumstances like this poor 3-year-old kid who is going to suffer trauma for the rest of her life as a result of Chicago not turning this criminal over to us when we asked for him last year.”
-ALEX
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