Three California Agencies Rejected 8,901 ICE Detainers, House Republicans Report Says

Three of California's largest law enforcement agencies rejected a combined 8,901 requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold suspects for federal pickup, according to a House Judiciary Committee Republican report. The Post's account describes the 22-page document as led by Chairman Jim Jordan and Rep. Tom McClintock. The figure is described as "reportedly" the combined total, and the report's contents were first described in an exclusive by The California Post, carried by the New York Post.

The report puts responsibility on Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic city leaders, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. It argues that California's sanctuary rules have sent people with serious criminal records back onto the street instead of into federal custody.

A word of caution: Patriot Daily Wire has not reviewed the report itself. Everything here comes from the Post's account of it, and the figures have not been independently verified.

The Numbers, Agency by Agency

According to the report as described by the Post, the Los Angeles Police Department honored 4 of the 4,177 detainers it received between January 2020 and June 2026. That is a compliance rate of less than one-tenth of one percent. The combined 8,901 appears to count the 4,173 LAPD detainers that were not honored, not the 4,177 received. Adding the received figure to the other two agencies' numbers would give 8,905.

The San Francisco Sheriff's Office, the report says, rejected all 2,201 detainers it received from January 2020 through August 2026. A search excerpt of the Post's story, which Patriot Daily Wire has not seen in full, indicates the report singles out Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, whose department it says has refused every ICE detainer since 2020, according to records provided to Congress. We have not confirmed that line.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Office declined 2,527 detainers from January 2023 to June 2026, including 894 last year. San Diego's window is shorter than the other two, so the combined total compares unequal stretches of time.

The report also leans on ICE's own figures, which allege that California authorities released 4,561 people sought by federal agents between Jan. 20, 2025 and early February 2026. The report describes the people it identified as having histories that include homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, weapons offenses and child abuse. The Post's account does not say how many of the 8,901 rejected detainers involved people with violent convictions.

The report states its conclusion plainly: "Because of California's sanctuary policies, local law enforcement officers have been forced to release repeat and dangerous criminals onto California streets."

The Cases Behind the Report

The report points to several cases. One involves Herbert Nixon Flores, a Salvadoran national who the report says had been deported 10 times. LAPD arrested him in September 2020 on a domestic violence charge, ICE asked for a hold, and he was released. Four months later, according to the Post's account, he was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend in front of their child. The notes do not say how that case was resolved.

Another is the February 2022 shooting at a Sacramento church, in which David Mora Rojas, a Mexican national who had overstayed his visa, killed his three daughters and another man before killing himself. Five days earlier he had been arrested for battery on a police officer and DUI. ICE had asked to be notified of his release; he was freed on bail without federal custody. That was a notification request rather than a formal hold.

The report also cites a November 2021 crash that killed Anya Varfolomeev, 19, and Nikolay Osokin. The Post says the driver, Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiana, was traveling nearly 100 mph and had been deported in 2016 and 2018. A search excerpt indicates the report does not identify a specific rejected detainer in that case. Anya's father, Anatoly Varfolomeev, a naturalized citizen, testified at a House hearing in September.

Context and Response

Editor's context, which does not come from the Post's article or the report: ICE detainers are requests, not court orders, and California's SB 54, signed in 2017, limits how much local police and sheriffs may cooperate with federal immigration agents. The Post's account does not discuss that law.

Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, told The California Post: "The blanket disregard of all immigration detainers is one of the largest public safety threats to our country."

Newsom's office did not respond to a request for comment, the Post reported, though the story says his office has previously rejected the accusations. No response from the LAPD, the San Francisco Sheriff's Office or the San Diego County Sheriff's Office appeared in the portion of the Post's account we reviewed.

What Comes Next

Jordan and McClintock sent letters in June demanding records from police and sheriff's departments in those areas, and the report promises continued scrutiny of sanctuary jurisdictions, according to a search excerpt of the story. No new hearings or legislation have been announced in what we read. Comment from Newsom's office and the three agencies, and the full report, would settle several open questions.