Some 90,000 illegal immigrants or about 60 percent of those detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are released from police custody after 48 hours. Despite records showing that they could be criminally dangerous, enforcers let them go without deporting them, and local police think they will get blamed for this oversight.

In 2015, the ICE sought the help of local police forces in detaining some 152,393 illegal immigrants with criminal liabilities. However, the ICE determined only 64,116 have violated immigration laws and their deportations were processed. The rest of the detainees were not made to undergo any deportation proceedings, leaving local jails to release them even though they are suspects to criminal cases, according to Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Why Illegal Criminals Are Released

Local sheriffs reveal that the ICE does not come back for the illegal criminals in jail because they only pick certain individuals. Since laws stipulate that any suspect cannot be held in jail for more than 48 hours, the local police have no choice but to let them go, lest they would be sued for curtailing human rights.

However, in doing so, the police risk putting criminals back on the streets and receiving potential backlash from the public. "We're the bad guys, we're the ones CNN is on saying, 'That sheriff left that killer out," said Florida Highlands County sheriff Susan Benton.

ICE's Russian Roulette

The lack of enforcement has been an existing problem at the ICE with politicians like Sen. Jeff Sessions likening the agency's Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) to Russian roulette.

"By defining its 'priorities' to exclude large categories of illegal immigrants, including those who have already been ordered deported or those who illegally reenter after having been deported, PEP ensures that countless more dangerous aliens will be released into U.S communities-allowing otherwise entirely preventable crimes, including some of the most violent and egregious, to occur," Sessions wrote in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security in 2015.

Under PEP, state and local law enforcement officers are tasked to follow the directives, with emphasis on "convicted criminals and others who pose a danger to public safety."

Over 347,000 illegals convicted of crimes are believed to be roaming free in the United States as of Mar. 2015. The majority have DUI records, but some of these convicts are charged with serious crimes, like domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual offenses, kidnapping and homicide.