Staff Reports
ICE agents in New Jersey have been rounding up illegal aliens with long criminal records — convictions for manslaughter, sexual assault, burglary and other violent crimes. While federal officers do the work of keeping dangerous people off the streets, some Democrats are pressing to close the very detention center that makes those arrests possible. That contrast tells you everything you need to know about priorities in today’s political theater.
ICE arrests dangerous criminal illegal aliens in New Jersey
The Department of Homeland Security is pointing to a string of arrests in the state as proof that ICE is still doing its core job: removing criminal illegal aliens. The agency says the recent list includes people convicted of voluntary manslaughter, sex assault, burglary, robbery, fraud, and terroristic threats. These aren’t traffic violations or paperwork mistakes — they are serious crimes that put victims and neighborhoods at risk.
Names and crimes: not a fishing trip
The arrests include individuals like Jose Manuel Rivera-Mes, whose record reportedly includes voluntary manslaughter and weapons offenses, and Marcos Delacruz, accused in sex assault and fraud cases. Others on the list include people with convictions for robbery, burglary, identity theft, and repeated assaults. Call it what it is: enforcement that matters. When law enforcement locates a convicted violent offender hiding behind immigration status, the sensible response is to remove the threat — not to shut down the tool that made that possible.
Sanctuary politicians putting politics ahead of public safety
This week, as New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed a lawsuit against the contractor running Delaney Hall — claiming the facility is inhumane — senators and officials have called for the center’s closure. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim and Gov. Mikie Sherrill (all Democrats, according to recent coverage) have pushed the narrative that detention facilities are the problem. But when you ignore the people ICE is removing — people convicted of violent offenses — you’re choosing ideology over common sense and public safety.
Keep Delaney Hall open and enforce the law
If you care about neighborhoods and victims, you should want full use of federal immigration enforcement tools. Closing Delaney Hall won’t make criminal illegal aliens disappear; it will only make it harder to detain and remove them. Lawmakers who cheer for shutting detention capacity while claiming to protect communities are living in a fantasy. The practical solution is simple: back ICE when it targets violent offenders, keep detention capacity intact, and demand accountability from local leaders who put politics ahead of safety. That would be a refreshingly honest rearrangement of priorities.
