The United States Marshals Service is reportedly drafting a federal sanctuary policy to release criminal illegal aliens into American communities rather than turning them over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

An exclusive report from the Washington Times‘s Stephen Dinan reveals that the U.S. Marshals Service is looking at creating a federal sanctuary policy to help criminal illegal aliens evade arrest by ICE and has already started enforcing such a policy in some states.

Dinan reports for the Times:

The U.S. Marshals Service is drafting a sanctuary policy that would limit the agency’s ability to hold illegal immigrants for pickup by ICE, The Washington Times has learned. [Emphasis added]

Under the policy, marshals would not be able to hold illegal immigrants for pickup by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the say-so of an immigration warrant, or “detainer” request. Once the Marshals Service is finished processing an immigrant for its custody purposes, the person is to be released even if ICE has asked for a hold. [Emphasis added]

Officials said the policy is still in draft form, though The Times knows of one jurisdiction in Florida where it has already been implemented, according to a memo sent to employees this summer. [Emphasis added]

The federal sanctuary policy would come as President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has successfully slashed the number of arrests and deportations of illegal aliens via so-called “sanctuary country” policies that prevent ICE agents from arresting most illegal aliens — even those with extensive criminal histories.

ICE data, reported by Breitbart News, shows that before Biden’s sanctuary country policies, the agency was deporting more than 120 illegal aliens every day on average. After the policies went into effect last year, daily deportations dropped to just 65 a day on average.

A federal sanctuary policy for the U.S. Marshals Service would be significant because nearly all foreign nationals in the agency’s custody are illegal aliens. A Department of Justice (DOJ) report from 2020 revealed that 94 percent of foreign nationals in Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Marshals Service custody are illegal aliens.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.