The Trump administration put California on discover Wednesday — warning them to cease “sanctuary” insurance policies permitting prison unlawful immigrants to stroll out of jails and again onto the streets.
A letter from ICE to the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Lawyer Common Rob Bonta requested if the Golden State can be complying with immigration detainers — requests to native legislation enforcement to carry an unlawful immigrant if they’re about to be launched from custody after an arrest or upon completion of a sentence.
“Please affirm whether or not the State of California plans to honor detainers on these aliens or whether or not every of those barbarians will sometime stroll the streets of California once more,” the letter, obtained by The Put up, mentioned.
California is a sanctuary state, which means state and native companies — together with police, the DMV, and public colleges — are typically prohibited from asking about an individual’s immigration standing or sharing that info with federal immigration authorities, together with ICE, in most circumstances.
“Governor Newsom and his fellow California sanctuary politicians are releasing murderers, pedophiles, and drug traffickers from their jails again into our neighborhoods and placing American lives in danger,” Todd Lyons, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, advised The Put up.
The company mentioned the sanctuary insurance policies are forcing federal brokers to “exit into the neighborhood to make the arrest” as a result of they don’t inform the Trump administration that they’re setting unfastened the unlawful immigrants, a DHS spokesperson mentioned.
“All we ask for in a detainer is that, when the prison finishes his sentence, the states and locals hand him over to us for deportation,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The federal authorities alleges that at the very least 4,500 unlawful immigrants with prison backgrounds have been launched again onto American streets by California.
Tens of 1000’s of people that entered the nation illegally — which it notes is against the law in itself — and later dedicated extra offenses, together with homicide, rape, possession of kid pornography, armed theft, and different severe crimes, are at present or have not too long ago been in California custody, the letter acknowledged.
The federal authorities alleges there are greater than 33,000 unlawful immigrants with lively ICE detainers in California and says it shared case examples with the legal professional basic as an example what it referred to as “the place your failures have failed the American individuals.”
These examples embrace a Guatemalan nationwide convicted of first-degree homicide and theft, an Armenian nationwide convicted of voluntary manslaughter and different felonies, and a Mexican nationwide arrested for a intercourse offender violation, ICE claimed. All three had been later taken into ICE custody after detainers weren’t honored, in line with ICE.
“That is extra harmful for ICE, the prison, and the general public,” the DHS spokesperson mentioned.
The Put up has reached out to Newsom and Bonta.
This isn’t the primary letter ICE has despatched to California.
In September 2025, ICE despatched the same letter to California — in addition to New York and Illinois — asking the states to adjust to federal immigration legislation and honor detainers for prison unlawful aliens.
Sacramento didn’t reply to that letter.
This letter is the newest flashpoint in ongoing tensions between the state and the Trump‑period federal authorities, which additionally embrace California’s passage of the No Secret Police Act, a legislation signed by Newsom that bars most legislation enforcement officers, together with federal brokers resembling ICE, from carrying masks throughout operations within the state.
The state has additionally seen elevated anti‑ICE protests after the deadly capturing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, an incident that sparked demonstrations nationwide and after the deadly off‑responsibility ICE capturing of Keith Porter Jr. in Los Angeles, all unfolding as Newsom promotes a brand new guide and weighs a possible 2028 presidential run.
