EXCLUSIVE: These Louisiana Parishes Are Potential ‘Sanctuary Cities’ For Illegal Immigrants

There are only two known ‘sanctuary cities’ in the state of Louisiana: Orleans Parish and Lafayette Parish. Both have records of refusing to work with federal immigration officials in order to deport illegal immigrants suspected of crimes in the state.

However, newly discovered data found by the Hayride depicts a different kind of Louisiana, one where many deep-Republican parishes are ignoring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers.

Note: ‘ICE detainers’ are requests by federal immigration officials to local parish jails to hold deportable illegal immigrants for an additional 48 hours so that they can take over custody of the illegal immigrant.

According to ICE data, between Jan 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015, Grant Parish declined the most ICE detainers in the state, with 12 detainers by immigration officials being ignored. The 12 detainees booked with crimes did not have previous criminal histories.

Allen Parish declined 6 ICE detainers during the time period, but none of the detainees had prior criminal histories.

East Baton Rouge Parish declined a total of 4 ICE detainers. Of those, 2 of the detainees did have a criminal background.

In Caddo Parish where 3 ICE detainers were declined, one of those declined involved a detainee who had a criminal background.

Orleans Parish (the most high-profile sanctuary city in the state) declined 3 ICE detainers. All 3 detainees had criminal histories.

Avoyelles Parish and Jefferson Parish both declined 2 ICE detainers each and none of those included detainees with criminal backgrounds.

Bossier Parish declined 1 ICE detainer, however it did not involve a detainee that had a criminal history.

Lafourche Parish, Livingston Parish and Terrebone Parish all declined 1 ICE detainer each. In each of the cases, the detainee did in fact have a criminal background.

Altogether, 11 Louisiana parishes have a history of not working with federal immigration authorities when it comes to an individual suspected of a crime who is also not a citizen of the country.

Additionally, in total, 9 Louisiana detainees who are deportable illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds have not been handed over to federal immigration officials. And 27 Louisiana detaineers who are deportable illegal immigrants, but do not have a criminal background, have also not been handed over to federal immigration officials.

The only component keeping these Louisiana parishes (with the exception of Orleans Parish) from being official ‘sanctuary cities’ is that they do not have official local policies which make it more difficult for local law enforcement to work with ICE officials on criminal illegal immigration issues.

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