Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young |
By Brandon Hall
(Email him at WestMIPolitics@Gmail.com)
Sources tell West Michigan Politics Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young has reversed her controversial 2019 ICE policy that led to Kent County being named a "sanctuary" county.La-Joye-Young made the decison Monday evening.
The policy has come under fire since it was first implemented in 2019, and ignited nationwide outrage after the murder of Ruby Garcia by an illegal in Grand Rapids last week.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the White House criticized a county in Michigan this week for having what they called a “sanctuary” policy which they said threatens public safety by not holding immigrants for ICE beyond their release date without a judicial warrant.
In January, Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young told ICE that her department will not agree to immigrant detainer requests from ICE unless they have a judicial warrant from a judge. Her move came amid an uproar from civil rights advocates after Grand Rapids Police and Kent County had handed over to ICE a Latino suspect born in the U.S. who was a U.S. citizen and Marine veteran, Jilmar Ramos-Gomez.
ICE says the new policy by the Kent County Sheriff is dangerous; civil rights advocates defended the sheriff’s move.
Kent County’s policy change “negatively impacts public safety and ICE’s efficiency in the apprehension of criminal aliens,” ICE said. The federal immigration agency said opponents of detainers without warrants “wish to undermine immigration enforcement and excuse the ill-conceived practices of sanctuary jurisdictions that put politics before public safety.”
This is a developing story...
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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.
>>>Email him at WestMIPolitics@Gmail.com
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