By Rebecca Everett | For NJ.com
on March 14, 2017 at 6:32 PM, updated March 15, 2017 at 7:12 AM
MOUNT HOLLY TWP. — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a statement slamming Burlington County officials for releasing an immigrant that federal officers wanted held.
The release said that ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations were later able to arrest the man in question, Denner Dos Santos, 22, a Brazilian, in Mount Holly on Feb. 22.
ICE said that the county “failed to honor a detainer lodged by ICE” to hold Dos Santos when he was in custody back in July.
ICE can make detainer requests to local law enforcement or jails to hold an individual that ICE suspects is “subject to removal from the United States” for 48 hours past the time they would have originally been released.
It allows time for ICE officers to take that person to a facility where they can be held pending deportation hearings.
Khaalid H. Walls, a spokesman for ICE, said that the agency filed its detainer request with the county July 11, and yet Dos Santos was released the following day.
