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Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans, other GOP lawmakers raise concerns to ICE about targeting non-criminals

Letter says agency’s limited resources should be focused on immigrants with criminal backgrounds
Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans, other Republican lawmakers urge ICE to prioritize removing criminals
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Colorado’s U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans and five other congressional Republicans raised concerns to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week about its enforcement strategies — and whether ICE is still prioritizing the deportation of criminals.

In the Wednesday letter sent to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, the six members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference expressed concerns “that your limited resources may be stretched to pursue individuals that do not constitute an immediate threat to public safety,” according to a copy shared online by Axios.

They wrote that immigration enforcement must follow “levels of priority,” adding: “Every minute that we spend pursuing an individual with a clean record is a minute less that we dedicate to apprehending terrorists or cartel operatives.”

Though the representatives assert that they stand in support of President Donald Trump’s border-security efforts, they wrote that “we need to give absolute priority to every violent offender and convicted criminal illegal alien present in our nation.

“Diverting limited resources to other objectives puts our national security at risk,” the letter says.

Read the full story from our partners at The Denver Post.


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