Exclusive: “DON’T MESS WITH NORTH TEXAS!” Rep. Beth Van Duyne launches effort to empower mayors to deter criminal illegal immigration

Rep. Beth Van Duyne has a clear message for the cartels. Read on for more...

Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R., Texas), one of the House’s leading voices in the fight to curb illegal immigration, has launched a new effort, which empowers mayors and local law enforcement to strengthen their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), by implementing policies that ensure criminal illegal immigrants are turned over to ICE for deportation.

“I am asking every city and law enforcement operation in the 24th Congressional District to make it very clear that your policies will be to turn over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) any illegal immigrant caught committing crimes in your jurisdiction,” Van Duyne wrote to officials in her district, in a memo obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter.

"Even in North Texas, we have seen how criminal aliens who were arrested and then set free, went on to commit further, more egregious crimes than their original offense," Van Duyne wrote. "On September 19, 2024, Manuel Hernandez Hernandez was arrested by an area police department when officers realized he was driving an unregistered vehicle with no driver’s license or car insurance. After being released the next day, Hernandez Hernandez would go on to join up with three other Venezuelan gang members and on September 21, 2024, commit a horrific and violent home invasion in Dallas."

Local jurisdictions can play a vital role in combating crime from violent immigrant gangs. In one of the most high-profile cases this year, Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant who was convicted of murdering University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, had previously been arrested and subsequently freed on two separate occasions. Sanctuary city policies dictated his release. Had ICE been contacted, Ibarra could have been deported, potentially preventing Riley's death, Van Duyne said.

Venezuelan gang activity in Van Duyne's district sent shockwaves through the country after gang members targeted a quiet, upscale neighborhood in the heart of Dallas, brutally attacking, pistol-whipping, and tying up a woman in her home, robbing her of more than $75,000 of valuables.

Over the summer, Tren de Aragua gangster Henry Theis was arrested in Texas for a DWI, but was released from custody rather than being turned over to ICE, and went on to steal tens of thousands of dollars from hacked ATMs in North Dakota.

Armin Mizani, the mayor of Keller, Texas, told the Reporter that “because of President Biden’s open border policies, every city in America has become a border city. As a result, cities are dealing with increased crime and unprecedented levels of drug-related deaths. America gave President Trump a clear mandate to secure our border and to strengthen national security. In Keller, we will continue to abide by state and federal law, including any federal order pertaining to the deportation of criminals who are in this Country illegally. We will continue to partner with law enforcement and leaders like Congresswoman Van Duyne to ensure our nation’s laws are being upheld."

Van Duyne added that while borders are the front line in stopping mass illegal immigration, cities are the next battleground and will be crucial for stopping the "vast criminality from these organized and violent criminal alien gangs."

“This should be the model for other Congressional operations to follow: serve in the protection of the people we represent by directly connecting the cities and law enforcement operations in our districts to ICE so we can make rapid progress in the mass deportation of criminal aliens,” she said. “In the months ahead, the Texas lawmaker plans to work closely with north Texas mayors and other elected officials in the area to coordinate efforts with federal law enforcement, sending a clear message to criminal alien gangs: “DON’T MESS WITH NORTH TEXAS!”

Earlier in her career, Van Duyne served as city councilmember and Mayor of Irving; in those roles, she formalized her city's relationship with ICE through the 24/7 Criminal Alien Program (CAP), which gave the city a direct line of communication to turn over criminals who could not prove they were in the country legally, resulting in the apprehension and deportation of thousands of criminal illegal immigrants.

Local Texas officials told the Reporter that the surge in illegal crossings under President Joe Biden makes programs like Van Duyne’s more important than ever.

Erik Gomez, the Mayor of Sabinal, lamented that “over the last 4 years, in my city, we’ve seen an enormous, unprecedented, unsustainable rise in human and” drug smuggling in our city. [Fortunately,] in Sabinal, we’ve worked well with immigration officials before and look forward to continuing our great relationship with them.”

“The cartels will know quickly that Sabinal will not be an easy gateway into the United States,” Gomez added.