Press Releases

Congressman Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (GA-01) introduced legislation today to strengthen immigration enforcement by targeting criminal illegal aliens in law enforcement custody.

The Assuring Law Enforcement Requests are Timely Evaluated by DHS (ALERTED) Act requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to promptly respond to local law enforcement official's inquiry about suspected illegal aliens in their custody for a violation of any law. Current law only guarantees a response from ICE when the suspected illegal alien is arrested for controlled substances. 

"It’s unbelievable a law like this even needs to be introduced,” said Carter. “Right now, a violent criminal in our country illegally could be released back into society simply because the federal government did not respond to local law enforcement. For the safety of our communities, we cannot allow this to continue.

"This legislation is critical to ensure jurisdictions that want to enforce our immigration laws are able to by clarifying their authority to contact ICE about a suspected illegal alien in their custody. This legislation also holds ICE accountable if they choose not to issue a detainer for a criminal alien after a law enforcement agency has brought an arrestee to their attention." 

The Center for Immigration Studies found that during an 8 month period from January 1 to August 31, 2014, more than 8,000 criminal aliens were released back into communities by sanctuary cities.  The majority of the aliens released had prior offenses, and a quarter of them had prior felonies. Most alarming of all, 1,900 of these released criminal aliens went on to be arrested more than 4,000 times.

Specifically, the ALERTED Act:

• ensures that federal, state, and local law enforcement officers receive a prompt reply from ICE to their inquiries for suspected aliens in their custody;
• guarantees a response to detainer inquiries for suspected illegal aliens arrested for any local, state, or federal offense;
• helps jurisdictions that want to enforce current immigration laws by clarifying their authority to contact ICE about a suspected illegal alien in their custody;
• increases interagency communication at all levels; and
• holds ICE accountable if they choose not to issue a detainer for a criminal alien after a law enforcement agency has brought an arrestee to their attention.