Today ICE said they are contemplating charging sanctuary city leaders with violating federal anti-smuggling laws for protecting illegal aliens and refusing to cooperate with federal immigration laws.

ICE says that sanctuary cities are a threat to public safety because they release criminal illegal aliens back to into American communities, despite them being priorities for deportation. Once a criminal illegal alien is released ICE is forced to then send in a task force to apprehend them, which is more dangerous for the illegal alien, ICE officers, and community.

According to ICE the number of police and sheriff’s departments who have signed 287(g) agreements, which pays for local police and sheriff’s deputies in those jurisdictions to be trained to enforce immigration laws, has already doubled since Pres. Trump has been in office and they believe it will triple by the end of the year.

Since Pres. Trump has broadened and expanded the categories of illegal aliens who are eligible for deportation, ICE is on track to break the deportation record of 409,849, set in 2012 under Pres. Obama, next year.

During the Obama administration, illegal aliens that were apprehended at the border and turned back were counted as a deportation, which helped the administration reach that record-breaking number. Under Pres. Trump turnbacks at the border will not be counted as deportations.

ICE has already started to arrest illegal aliens who pay smugglers to bring their children and relatives on the dangerous journey to enter the U.S. illegally.

Read more on this story at The Washington Times.