The United States Attorney’s Office announced on Monday that they would be launching a plan in conjunction with multiple federal agencies that will neutralize California’s sanctuary state policy and protect Americans from criminal illegal aliens incarcerated in county jails by issuing federal arrest warrants for them.

The new program, known as “Operation Guardian Angel,” would have the Central District of California U.S. Attorney’s Office working alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), DEA, FBI, and the ATF. Working together, the agencies would then side-step around sanctuary city policies and go through criminal databases every day to find illegal aliens who were arrested and jailed the day before. By doing this, it would leave no question that the illegal aliens in question committed crimes and so that the Department of Justice (DOJ) can charge them with misdemeanor illegal entry or felony illegal reentry.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the felons in country jails would then get federal warrants, blocking their state release. With the criminal illegal immigrants now having felony criminal charges against them, they would then be deported.

There has also been early success. Operation Guardian Angel rolled out on a soft launch on May 10th, and within 5 days, 13 defendants were arrested. The operation is expected to grow from there. 1.5 million illegal immigrants live within the bounds of the Central District of California’s jurisdiction, comprising of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. For the task force, it’s just a matter of zeroing in on illegal immigrant felons. As a 2019 ICE report found that California’s sanctuary policies led to thousands of illegal immigrant criminals being released each year, the program, when in full swing, could possibly issue warrants out to a similar number each year.

The operation is the brainchild of U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli, who was appointed to the post by President Donald Trump only last month. In a series of statements, Essayli made it clear that while the state could ignore immigration detainer requests, they could not ignore federal arrest warrants. And with illegal immigrant felons with prior felonies being targeted, the common argument of “their only crime was entering without permission” is virtually voided.

Warrants over detainers

“Even the worst criminal aliens in state custody are frequently released into the community because California’s sanctuary state policies block cooperation with federal law enforcement,” said Essayli. “These laws effectively render federal immigration detainers meaningless. The days of giving criminal illegal aliens a free pass are over. While California may be presently disregarding detainers, it cannot ignore federal arrest warrants.”

“They’ve made it almost impossible for ICE to do their job, issue detainers and get criminal illegal immigrants out of jails. So what we’re doing instead is we’re going to start issuing warrants,” added Essayli later on Monday. “We’re going to flood the system with warrants for criminal illegal immigrants that are in county jails, they can ignore a detainer, but they cannot ignore a criminal arrest warrant. As soon as an illegal immigrant is booked into a county jail, we’re reviewing their file. And if they meet the elements of illegal reentry, which is a federal crime, we are filing a complaint and getting an arrest warrant issued before they’re released from state custody.

“They have no choice, they will comply. And if they don’t comply, if they interfere in our ability to arrest a federal felon, they can expect to face consequences for that. So I don’t expect any resistance from the local authorities. This is the safest way for us to get criminal illegal immigrants. Get them while they’re still in state custody, where they’ve been searched. They have no weapons, and we can do a safe transfer.”

As of Tuesday, no major lawmaker in favor of sanctuary laws has issued a statement on the operation, including Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, or former Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de Leon, who authored the initial state Sanctuary law, SB 54, while still in the State Senate. An update on how many arrests and deportations have come from the operation is also expected in the coming months.