Child molesters looming prison release reignites sanctuary showdown in wake of Dem election sweep
A convicted child molester and illegal alien from Venezuela could soon be back on the streets unless authorities in Seattle ditch their sanctuary city policies and cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sent a detainer request to the liberal Pacific Northwest enclave for Leomar Alexander Lopez Zambrano, asking that he be turned over rather than be released back into the US after his prison sentence concludes.The clash between DHS and Seattle exacerbates longstanding tensions between President Donald Trump’s immigration officials and leaders in so-called sanctuary cities, which have thrown up roadblocks to law enforcement cooperating with federal enforcement authorities.Going a step further, the outcome of Tuesday’s elections are putting even more of a microscope on the agency at the center of much controversy during Trump’s second term and is raising questions about which administration officials could face the wrath of a brand-new blue Congress.“Sanctuary politicians in Washington are refusing to honor the ICE detainer and hand this disgusting criminal over to us after he finishes his prison sentence,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “This illegal alien has been convicted on TWO counts of child molestation.”After the 2026 midterms, the matter in Seattle raises new questions of whether sanctuary cities will feel emboldened to double down on their efforts to block Trump’s agenda as Democrats prepare to retake a majority in the US Senate and House of Representatives.To those like Hans von Spakovsky, an immigration expert with Advancing American Freedom (AAF), the political tide turning in Washington, DC, might encourage Democrat-run cities to go even further in stonewalling immigration enforcement agencies and making it harder for officials to do their jobs.“I have no doubt that sanctuary jurisdictions will feel emboldened,” Spakovsky told Fox News Digital...