Sanctuary City Released Human Rights Violator
And then NYC hit the snooze button on this wake-up call
By Andrew R. Arthur on December 21, 2019
In my last post, I discussed a Liberian amnesty provision that was snuck into section 7611 of the National Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2020. I specifically referenced the case of Liberian human rights violator Charles Cooper, who was removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Liberia in June 2018. I left out the part about how the New York Police Department (NYPD) failed to honor an ICE detainer for him, and released him without even notifying the agency. The incident does not reflect well on those who set the rules for New York's finest.
Cooper entered the United States in January 2006 on a nonimmigrant visa, and remained beyond his authorized return date. He was no ordinary visa overstay. According to ICE, Cooper "served as a bodyguard to former Liberian President Charles Taylor and was a member of a paramilitary police unit called the Secret Security Service (SSS)."
ICE continued: "Cooper, while a member of the SSS and the National Patriotic Front of Liberia [NPLF], was directly involved in the persecution of civilians in Liberia." In addition to identifying Cooper as "a human rights violator," the agency asserted that he was "a member of an organization known for setting fires to whole villages."
https://cis.org/Arthur/Sanctuary-City-Released-Human-Rights-Violator
