Ithaca, N.Y. (WBEN) - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents say the Tompkins County Sheriff's Office out of Ithaca refused to honor a federal arrest warrant against a 27-year-old Mexican citizen, who has been removed several times for illegally entering the country.
Jesus Romero Hernandez was arrested in Ithaca on Jan. 30 by ICE Buffalo officials after the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office released him from custody following the issuing of a federal arrest warrant against him.
Romero was previously removed from the United States six times between July and September 2016, being convicted once in Texas of illegal re-entry on one of those occasions and sentenced him to time served.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York charged Romero last year with illegally re-entering the United States after a prior removal.
Because Romero was then in the custody of the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office, awaiting resolution of New York State assault charges, ICE provided a copy of a federal arrest warrant, signed by a U.S. magistrate judge, to the sheriff’s office.
ICE says that office refused to honor the federal arrest warrant and released Romero.