Now we know the reason Democrats shut the ICE spokesman out of recent border talks in Washington. They didn’t want ICE’s facts to interfere with their false narrative.

As reported in the Washington Times – “If [the ICE spokesman] had been allowed to speak, he would have told them that the limits they’re pondering to immigrant detention, proposed by Democrats, would lead to 30,000 people being released back onto the streets, including thousands of migrants with criminal records.”

An administrative source said, “ICE was disappointed not to be able to address the conference committee directly.”

The most recent round of negotiations to ensure the government remains open included more Democrat political gamesmanship – this time an attempt to trade more illegals detention beds for some concession on the wall.

President Trump previously asked for 52,000 detention beds. Democrats wanted to only allow 32,520 and even Senate Republicans only agreed to 40,520.

ICE argued more detention beds would cut down illegal immigration, and result in more criminals being ousted from American communities. Immigration Control says there are now one million migrants who have been ordered deported from the country who are still roaming free in our city streets.

The move is just one more attempt by Congressional Democrats to circumvent President Trump’s promise to stem the tide of illegal immigrants. Homeland Security spokeswoman Katie Waldman told reporters that if Congress is serious about cutting the recent record surge in illegal immigration, it must provide the number of detention beds needed.

Waldman said, “Without the necessary detention authority and sufficient funding for family beds to enable ICE to detain family units when they are ordered removed, ICE will still only be able to remove a very small percentage of family units, thereby increasing the pull factors and further contributing to the border crisis.”

A continuing problem for ICE is that it often has to release illegal immigrants only to see them vanish into the general population, never to return for proper processing.

Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warns that by demanding a cap on Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, Democrats are endangering public safety.

“They are trying to undermine our ability to do interior enforcement,” said ICE Deputy Director Matt Albence.

President Trump agreed in a Tweet, “The Democrats do not want us to detain, or send back, criminal aliens! This is a brand new demand. Crazy!”

At a White House briefing, Albence warned, “We’ll be releasing gang members and individuals convicted of domestic violence and drug crimes.”

Albence said ICE currently holds upwards of 22,000 people because of arrest, most with criminal convictions. He said keeping them in custody is the only way to ensure those criminal immigrants show up for deportation proceedings.

He repeated, “Putting any artificial cap on our ability to do our job is damaging to public safety.”

Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Senator Richard Shelby (Rep -Ala.) said on “Fox News Sunday,” “We got some problems with the Democrats dealing with ICE, that is detaining criminals that come into the U.S., and they want a cap on them, we don’t want a cap on that.”

Sheriffs across the country stand behind ICE and the President, saying that the early release of criminal aliens only makes their job harder.

The National Sheriffs’ Association and the Major County Sheriffs of America delivered a letter to lawmakers last week urging them not to cut ICE’s detention capacity.

Over 3,000 sheriffs signed the letter that warned, “This dangerous congressional proposal not only jeopardizes the risk of our national security, but hinders our law enforcement officers from effectively enforcing and upholding the law and protecting their communities.”

The letter also warns that limiting the number of detention beds “jeopardizes the integrity of the immigration system” and cripples the ability of ICE to detain criminal aliens who “pose a risk to public safety or are a flight risk.”

An ICE representative said “over 90 percent of ICE’s arrests are aliens who have a criminal conviction,” have been previously removed, or have been arrested resulting in criminal conviction.

Though the state of California would pay the worst price for the bedding shortfall and ensuing violent crime, Governor Jerry Brown continues to block all the President’s efforts.

Now, Democrats have backed down on their demand but only time will tell how much they can be trusted. Ronald Reagan learned during his second term that Democrats and honesty do not go together. It appears President Trump has learned his history well.