Exclusive | California sanctuary cities ignored nearly 9K ICE detainers — freeing violent criminals: report

A blistering congressional report is accusing Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders in California’s biggest cities of letting violent criminals run free — while ignoring nearly 9,000 requests from federal immigration authorities.

The GOP’s new 22-page House Judiciary Committee report, obtained exclusively by The California Post, paints a startling picture of California’s sanctuary city policies, accusing state and local officials of shielding dangerous immigrants from deportation.

The investigation — led by Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) — uncovered thousands of rejected requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. The report comes on the heels of Jordan and McClintock sending letters in June demanding records from police and sheriff’s departments in those areas.

According to the report, Los Angeles police honored just four of 4,177 ICE detainers received between January 2020 and June 2026 — a compliance rate lower than 0.1%.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Office in San Francisco rejected all 2,201 detainers received between January 2020 and August 2026. In San Diego, the county Sheriff’s Office declined 2,527 detainers between January 2023 and June 2026, including 894 last year alone.

Combined, the three agencies reportedly rejected 8,901 detainers over those periods.

The report also cites ICE figures alleging that California authorities released 4,561 immigrants sought by federal agents between Jan. 20, 2025, and early February 2026.

The individuals identified in the committee’s investigation included immigrants with criminal histories involving homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, weapons offenses and child abuse.

“Because of California’s sanctuary policies, local law enforcement officers have been forced to release repeat and dangerous criminals onto California streets,” the report states.

Republicans singled out several notorious killings they say illustrate the deadly consequences of the state’s policies.

Among them was Herbert Nixon Flores, an immigrant from El Salvador who had been deported 10 times before being arrested by Los Angeles police in September 2020 on a domestic violence charge.

ICE requested police hold Nixon Flores for federal authorities, but he was released.

Four months later, he was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend in front of their young child.

The report also highlighted the February 2022 Sacramento church shooting in which David Mora Rojas, a Mexican national who overstayed his visa, killed his three daughters and another man before turning the gun on himself.

Mora Rojas had been arrested just five days earlier on charges that included battery on a police officer and driving under the influence.

Although ICE had requested notification of his release, Mora Rojas was freed on bail without being taken into federal custody.

The report also cited emotional testimony from Anatoly Varfolomeev, whose 19-year-old daughter, Anya, and her friend Nikolay Osokin were killed in November 2021 when a previously deported Mexican national crashed into their vehicle while driving nearly 100 mph.

The driver, Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiana, had been deported in 2016 and 2018 before illegally returning to the United States.

During a September congressional hearing, Varfolomeev blamed California’s political leadership for enabling the tragedy.

“Our tragedy is the direct result of a crazy, incomprehensibly anti-American open border policy,” he testified, blasting “ignorant, arrogant and self-righteous politicians like Newsom and his minions.”

He added, “If not for them Anya and Kolya would still be alive.”

Varfolomeev, a naturalized American citizen, urged lawmakers to end what he called the “disgusting sanctuary madness.”

The report does not identify a specific ICE detainer rejected by California authorities involving Ortega-Anguiana before the fatal crash.

Sanctuary policies in California date back decades, but the report points to a framework created in 2013, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Trust Act, followed by the California Values Act in 2017.

The laws generally restrict state and local authorities from using their resources for federal immigration enforcement, although exceptions permit cooperation involving people convicted of certain serious crimes.

ICE detainers are requests for notification before an immigrant’s release or for detention for up to 48 additional hours to allow federal agents to assume custody.

Republican investigators argued that California’s restrictions effectively undermine immigration enforcement, particularly in jurisdictions that require judicial warrants before cooperating.

San Diego County strengthened its sanctuary protections in December 2024, prompting objections from Sheriff Kelly Martinez, who maintained that her department would follow state law.

The report also blasted San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, whose department has refused every ICE detainer since 2020, according to records provided to Congress.

Newsom’s office has previously rejected accusations that California’s sanctuary policies protect violent criminals. As The Post reported in February, the governor’s office said the state had coordinated the transfer of more than 12,000 people from state prisons into ICE custody since 2019, including convicted murderers and rapists.

The administration also accused federal immigration officials of failing to pick up roughly one in eight state prisoners with outstanding ICE detainers.

“Claims that California ‘blocks’ cooperation with ICE are simply false,” the governor’s office said in a Feb. 6 statement.

State officials maintain that sanctuary protections encourage immigrant communities to report crimes and cooperate with police without fearing deportation.

Still, congressional Republicans are pushing legislation known as the Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act, which would prohibit state and local measures restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Judiciary Committee advanced the legislation in March.

The report concludes that California’s policies reflect a “radical, socialist Democrat Party that seeks to erase national borders” and vows continued congressional scrutiny of sanctuary jurisdictions.

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