Governor Phil Murphy now has blood on his hands.

Throughout his well-heeled campaign for governor he preached the virtues of New Jersey as a "sanctuary state." He was sworn in back in January while a man named Luis Perez sat in Middlesex County Jail on suspected felonies. Perez didn't belong in this country. ICE had filed a detainer request in December '17 while Murphy was still governor-elect.

It was not honored.

In February, weeks into a Murphy administration that panders to illegal immigrants and their sympathizers, Luis Perez was set free in defiance of the federal detainer. What became of him? Authorities say he went to Missouri and fatally shot two men and wounded two others on November 1. The following day he shot and killed a woman according to police, and now he is jailed without bond on 11 felonies, first-degree murder among them.

All you really need to know about this case is the following quote from Corey Price who is ICE's acting executive associate director.

"Had ICE's detainer request in December 2017 been honored by Middlesex County Jail, Luis Rodrigo Perez would have been placed in deportation proceedings and likely sent home to his country - and three innocent people might be alive today."

What does Middlesex County have to say for itself? The policy in place at the time was one where detainer requests by ICE were only honored if the inmate has previous first- or second-degree convictions (not just charges like Perez had) or if a final order of deportation had been signed by a federal judge. Instead of seeing the huge mistake in not honoring a federal request for a detainer, Middlesex County says this whole thing is ICE's fault. They say in the 51 days Perez was housed there ICE didn't get an order of deportation from a federal judge. So it's on them.

I disagree.

With one out of every eighteen people living in New Jersey being illegal, with millions upon millions of illegal immigrants living in this country, is it any wonder these procedural things might take longer than 51 days? Instead of making up their own rules and defying the federal government, authorities in New Jersey should not offer sanctuary to people who don't belong in our country. This so-called governor calls for our entire state to defy the federal government the same way. He's quick to race to a church for a photo-op to hold hands with illegals hiding from ICE. How quick will he be to get on camera and explain in detail how the blood spilled from the bodies of three innocent people isn't his fault?

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