One in ten of the most violent prisoners being held in a jail in Texas’ most populous county are illegal migrants earmarked for deportation by federal immigration authorities, according to a new report.
More than 1,100 violent criminals housed in Harris County Jail in Houston currently have detainers filed by US Immigration & Customs Enforcement, including accused murderers and child rapists, according to records obtained by Fox News.
An ICE detainer is a notice sent to local law enforcement of their intention to take a person into custody following their release from jail. The detainer requests information on the person’s release and asks that local officers detain the individual for an additional 48 hours after their release date in order to provide ICE agents time to assume custody.
The numbers, obtained by Fox through an open records request, show that some of the most vicious defendants in the Lone Star State entered the US illegally.
There are about 9,500 inmates in total in the Harri County Jail, according to the network.
“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,” Victoria Garcia, whose son, 27-year-old Ricardo Vega, was allegedly gunned down by migrant Osman Estanly Solorzano Sanchez during a road rage incident, told Fox.
“I didn’t ask for this” Garcia said. “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.”
The records show that almost half (43%) of the migrants detained in the Houston jail are charged with brutally violent crimes, including 174 ICE detainers for sexual assault — with more than half involving children under the age of 14.
In addition, 22 of the 75 murder cases linked to the migrants are capital murder cases.
Also held in Harris County Jail are two illegals from Venezuela charged in the rape and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, whose mom has blamed the Harris-Biden administration’s lax immigration policies for the death of her daughter.
Accused migrant killers Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, and Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, have also been tied to the vicious Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, which has terrorized the country.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said the number of criminal migrants clogging up jails is “no surprise.”
“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,” Ramsey told The Post.
“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.”
The records show that 9,527 inmates are being held in Harris County, and 1,170 of them have ICE detainers.
Fox filed similar requests for information from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office but were denied. Those requests are now being reviewed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
“Ricardo isn’t here to fight this fight,” Garcia said of her slain son. “But his mom is.”