Time For A Talk

The election and swearing in of Donald Trump as President have caused a schism among some executives in law enforcement. Trump made immigration enforcement a major plank in his platform. He also campaigned on full throated support for police and safer streets when it wasn’t popular to do so after the death of George Floyd. He was very open about what he was going to do. He did not conceal his true objective like many politicians and people running for office do. Everybody knew it was coming, having experienced some of it during his first term, so voters had something to go on as to whether or not to vote for him. And they did.

The second President Trump term has started in earnest, and it has caused some consternation among law enforcement executives. As a former law enforcement executive and an elected one at that, I understand the nuances of dealing with diverse communities that have divergent views. I had respect for the fact that there are other elected officials with constituencies. Ours is a system of shared powers. It can be difficult to navigate. My reputation was a balls to the wall hard liner on crime, violence and disorder and a staunch supporter of gun rights. I was this way in a very liberal county. Nevertheless, I was elected and re-elected four times. I had to survive contentious elections. How did I win? By staying true to my oath to the Constitution and keeping my community safe. The rest I left to the other elected officials to argue over. I made it publicly clear that I set policy for my office and did not allow other county officials to interfere. I did everything I could to keep pure politics out. It was not always possible as just about everything involving law enforcement has been made political, especially after George Floyd. Today, illegal immigration is doing the same thing.

Whether or not to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in their quest to locate, arrest and deport people in this country illegally is highly contentious. This is where the divide has occurred. Some sheriffs and police chiefs are assisting, others are not. There is no doubt that immigration is a federal responsibility, and local cities and states have no obligation to assist. But wait a minute. Federal illegal drug laws and aspects of violent crime and sex trafficking have shared responsibility implications. Many local law enforcement agencies team up with federal officers to form task forces to combat these offenses. Local officers are trained and then deputized as deputy US Marshals giving them the authority to enforce federal law. So how is that any different when it comes to assisting ICE agents in pursuit of dangerous illegal alien criminals? We are talking about transnational gang members now operation in the United States. We are talking about violent criminal gangs that have been accused of murder, rape and other assaults against American citizens. Many of these violent criminals have previously been arrested locally and then released only to victimize American citizens once again. Law enforcement executives always talk about the role that recidivism plays in violent crime but don’t seem concerned about it when those illegally in the country engage in criminal recidivism.

Then there is the issue that has long been used when it comes to Hispanic communities. It is the belief that assisting ICE will create mistrust between Latinos and police who will then begin to not report crimes to police out of fear that it will be discovered that they are in the country illegally and might be deported. Let’s walk through that myth. Yes, I said myth. I have never seen a police document or survey with empirical data citing real numbers of unreported crime due to mistrust of police.

Let us go back to right after September 11, 2002. There was this fear that there were terror cells operations in the US. A public campaign was started that had local law enforcement investigations and searches for potential terrorists in Muslim communities all across the US. They called it see something, say something. Where was the concern by local law enforcement that this might create mistrust in those communities and leading Muslims therefore to not report crime? Or did that not matter because there was a bigger goal of uprooting terrorists? It is a known proven fact that law enforcement’s relationship in black communities across the country is one of mistrust. Police have been on an unending pursuit to gain trust with black folks but to no avail. The approach by law enforcement in the black community is not to leave criminals there. They arrest those who prey on law abiding black people to make the community more livable. They don’t worry about it leading to more distrust or citizens not reporting crime out of fear of retaliation from criminals.

Why then would police executives want to allow dangerous criminal illegal aliens with known gang affiliations suspected of murder, rape, robbery and generally terrorizing lawful citizens to remain in Hispanic communities? In fact, I find it contradictory.

State and local law enforcement have the right not to assist ICE officials in identifying and arresting criminal illegal aliens, but it doesn’t square with that principle of the law enforcement code of ethics that says, I will cooperate with all legally authorized agencies and their representatives in the pursuit of justice.

Not working with ICE officials makes this political, and the antithesis of ethical conduct.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com