ICE nearly released sex abuse convicts despite Biden memo

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was prepared to release three men convicted of sex offenses against children, Texas officials said, in an apparent misapplication by authorities of enforcement directives from President Joe Biden's administration.

ICE has dropped "detainer" requests against 26 people in Texas in recent weeks, said Jason Clark, chief of staff at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Immigration authorities issue detainers to local or state law enforcement agencies holding a person who is potentially in the U.S. illegally. When a person in the U.S. illegally completes their sentence for a crime, ICE can seek to take them into immigration custody. In previous years, including under the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, ICE would not drop that many detainers from the Texas prison system in a year, Clark said.