HARRIS COUNTY, TX- A report from Fox News shows that per an open records request, one in every 10 inmates held in the Harris County Jail has a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold.
An ICE hold or detainer as it is frequently referred to, is a notice to local law enforcement that ICE intends to take the person being held into custody. The hold also requests information from local officials on when the suspect will be released and it asks officers to hold the suspect for up to 48 hours so that ICE can resume custody of the person.
The data from the opens record request shows that currently, there are 9,527 inmates in the Harris County Jail and 1,170 of those inmates have ICE holds. The records reveal that as of September, there are 174 ICE detainers linked to sexual assault cases, with more than half involving children under the age of 14. The records also show that 43 percent of cases with ICE holds involve violent crimes as classified by the FBI. Among them are 75 murder cases, 22 of them capital murder.
This includes the two illegal immigrants from Venezuela charged with capital murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping in the death of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray. According to the New York Post, accused killers 26-year-old Franklin Jose Peña Ramos and 21-year-old Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, have also been tied to the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Another illegal immigrant on the list is 32-year-old Osman Estanly Solarzano Sanchez. According to ICE officials, Sanchez is an illegal immigrant from Honduras and is accused of killing 27-year-old Ricardo Vega, a father of two, during a road rage incident back in April.
Police said that Vega called 911 before he was shot, informing dispatchers that he was following a road rage suspect who was armed with a gun, and gave the license and car description. Vega's mother, Victoria Garcia, said, "It's a call I will never receive again. He has a nine-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son who now have to grow up without a dad. And my daughter-in-law has to be without a husband."
Garcia, a Mexican American whose parents immigrated to the United States, said she understands the importance of immigration and the pursuit of a better life. She said, "I get it, you know. But they need to know who they're allowing to come into our country, our country that we work every day for, that we pay taxes for. I didn't ask for this. Ricardo didn't ask to be killed. I didn't ask for my son to be murdered. It's a decision that Osman, an illegal from Honduras, that decided to take upon himself."
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said that the number of criminal illegal immigrants clogging up the jail is "no surprise." He said, "We know that crime continues to be a problem, not only in Harris County, but around the country. Sadly, it's no surprise to me that there are those in our country illegally committing crimes like the tragic murder of Jocelyn Nungaray. That's why I'm committed to making sure crime and our safety is a top priority and I urge all our elected officials to focus on this issue."
According to Fox News, while the Harris County Sheriff's Office responded to the open records request, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office and the Travis County Sheriff's Office in Austin denied the same records request and sent it to the Attorney General's Office.
An ICE hold or detainer as it is frequently referred to, is a notice to local law enforcement that ICE intends to take the person being held into custody. The hold also requests information from local officials on when the suspect will be released and it asks officers to hold the suspect for up to 48 hours so that ICE can resume custody of the person.
The data from the opens record request shows that currently, there are 9,527 inmates in the Harris County Jail and 1,170 of those inmates have ICE holds. The records reveal that as of September, there are 174 ICE detainers linked to sexual assault cases, with more than half involving children under the age of 14. The records also show that 43 percent of cases with ICE holds involve violent crimes as classified by the FBI. Among them are 75 murder cases, 22 of them capital murder.
This includes the two illegal immigrants from Venezuela charged with capital murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping in the death of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray. According to the New York Post, accused killers 26-year-old Franklin Jose Peña Ramos and 21-year-old Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, have also been tied to the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Another illegal immigrant on the list is 32-year-old Osman Estanly Solarzano Sanchez. According to ICE officials, Sanchez is an illegal immigrant from Honduras and is accused of killing 27-year-old Ricardo Vega, a father of two, during a road rage incident back in April.
Police said that Vega called 911 before he was shot, informing dispatchers that he was following a road rage suspect who was armed with a gun, and gave the license and car description. Vega's mother, Victoria Garcia, said, "It's a call I will never receive again. He has a nine-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son who now have to grow up without a dad. And my daughter-in-law has to be without a husband."
Garcia, a Mexican American whose parents immigrated to the United States, said she understands the importance of immigration and the pursuit of a better life. She said, "I get it, you know. But they need to know who they're allowing to come into our country, our country that we work every day for, that we pay taxes for. I didn't ask for this. Ricardo didn't ask to be killed. I didn't ask for my son to be murdered. It's a decision that Osman, an illegal from Honduras, that decided to take upon himself."
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said that the number of criminal illegal immigrants clogging up the jail is "no surprise." He said, "We know that crime continues to be a problem, not only in Harris County, but around the country. Sadly, it's no surprise to me that there are those in our country illegally committing crimes like the tragic murder of Jocelyn Nungaray. That's why I'm committed to making sure crime and our safety is a top priority and I urge all our elected officials to focus on this issue."
According to Fox News, while the Harris County Sheriff's Office responded to the open records request, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office and the Travis County Sheriff's Office in Austin denied the same records request and sent it to the Attorney General's Office.
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