The Department of Homeland Security has blasted California’s sanctuary policies, claiming the state released nearly 24,000 undocumented immigrants from jail since January 2025 rather than handing them over to ICE.
DHS said the cases involved more than 81,000 criminal charges or convictions, including 169 homicides, 147 sexual assaults, 1,097 assaults and 3,295 burglaries.
“Governor Gavin Newsom and his cronies in California have turned the Golden State into a hotbed of illegal alien crime,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
He added that sanctuary politicians have not only refused to cooperate with law enforcement and “released murderers, child abusers, kidnappers, and gang members back onto the street.”
Among the cases DHS highlighted as the most serious were five people it said Los Angeles County released despite ICE detainers.
Ursulo Montenegro Martinez of Mexico was convicted of negligent manslaughter with a weapon, along with drug and illegal entry offenses, DHS said. ICE asked the county to hold him on Jun. 23, 2025. He was released instead.
Taron Gorgoyan, an Armenian national, was released after ICE issued a detainer on Mar. 6, 2026, according to the department. His record includes voluntary manslaughter, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, identity theft and disturbing the peace.
The county also freed Salvador Jesus Serpas-Hernandez, a Salvadoran citizen DHS described as a member of the Rebels 13 gang. DHS said his convictions include murder, cruelty to a child and battery on a former spouse, and that ICE had lodged its request on Apr. 1, 2026.
In another case, Mexico’s Noe Silva-Cervantes, an alleged Inglewood 13 gang member, left custody despite an Apr. 9, 2025, detainer, DHS said. He was previously convicted of attempted murder, robbery and grand theft.
Javier Balbuena Fernandez, a Cuban national convicted of second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon, was released after an Apr. 22, 2025, request, the agency said.
