Hundreds of jailed illegal aliens released back onto blue-state streets despite ICE detainers, records show

By Fox News · Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: Chicago-area officials released more than 400 illegal immigrants arrested on criminal charges amid the Trump administration’s 2025 immigration enforcement surge, public records obtained by a conservative legal group show. "Cook County and the State of Illinois have turned sanctuary policies into a deadly shield for criminal illegal aliens," Will Scolinos, an America First Legal attorney, said in a comment to Fox News Digital of the data. "By releasing hundreds of illegal aliens despite explicit ICE detainers in just one year, sanctuary laws endangered American lives. The tragic murder of Sheridan Gorman is the predictable outcome of pro-illegal alien madness that has infiltrated the Blue States," he added. Illinois law generally bars state and local law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers or transferring people to immigration authorities unless presented with a federal criminal warrant. Sanctuary policies like those in Illinois have become a political flash point, drawing the ire of the Trump administration as it accuses Democratic governors of imperiling community safety by failing to hand over illegal immigrants. ICE WARNS ILLINOIS IS RELEASING VIOLENT CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS DESPITE DETAINERS, RISKING PUBLIC SAFETY "The safest way to arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets is by lodging arrest detainers," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "Because sanctuary cities refuse to work with ICE law enforcement, criminal illegal aliens are released from jails into American communities to perpetuate more crimes." America First Legal's data , which was obtained through a public records request, covers January to December 2025. Though Cook County released most of the illegal immigrants federal authorities wanted to apprehend, records show that the county transferred 86 jailed illegal immigrants to federal custody in 2025. The DHS spokesperson noted that some of the illegal immigrants held…