On Jan. 6 of this year, an illegal immigrant was arrested in Bristol County, Mass., for aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. A week later, another illegal immigrant who was previously deported and snuck back into the U.S. was picked up by police on Cape Cod for fentanyl trafficking. Then on Jan. 20, police officers in Plymouth County, Mass., arrested a Cape Verde citizen for carrying a large capacity firearm without a license, armed robbery, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, among other charges.
Three individuals in three weeks arrested and brought to the county jail on serious charges.
Carrying a large capacity firearm.
Trafficking fentanyl.
Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
And the program that guaranteed those dangerous individuals would end up in ICE custody and not released back into our neighborhoods is now under fire from congressional Democrats who want to put their political agenda above the public safety and security of the people of the United States of America.
Headlined by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the Protect Immigration Act seeks to abolish partnerships between local and federal law enforcement by rescinding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement 287(g) program.
This key program cements the public safety bond between local, state and federal law enforcement and targets dangerous criminal illegal immigrants. Almost 150 public safety entities, mostly sheriff’s offices, participate in the program. And it is highly successful. According to ICE, in FY2020, the 287(g) program helped keep hundreds of criminal illegal immigrants behind bars and into deportation proceedings instead of having them released back into our neighborhoods, including 920 convicted of assault, 1,261 convicted for dangerous drugs, 104 convicted for sex offenses/assaults and 37 convicted for homicides.
The only people this absurd proposal to end the 287(g) program protects are criminal illegal aliens.
Think about this: The people we elected to represent us in Congress are trying to end a longstanding law enforcement program that keeps illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes off the streets.
This proposal to end the 287(g) public safety program is a brazen attack on the collective efforts and partnerships of local, state, and federal law enforcement to maximize our potential to keep our citizens and legal residents safe.
What is most egregious about this bill is the very people who filed it and support its passage are, in large part, responsible for why we need the 287(g) program to begin with.
The fact that Congress created the immigration laws and refuse to support enforcing them has encouraged more transnational gangs, drug traffickers, rapists and murders to illegally come to our country, roam freely in our neighborhoods and victimize innocent Americans and legal residents.
The fact that these lawmakers violate their oaths and trust of the American people by diminishing the ability of law enforcement to enforce the rule of law means that they are intentionally protecting lawbreakers as a means of currying favor with the immigrant community for self-serving political gain.
The fact that those pro-illegal immigrant lawmakers are not calling for an end to joint task forces with the FBI, DEA, ATF and U.S. Marshals makes obvious their politically motivated agenda to select the one federal agency that is an obstacle to their self-serving motives.
We never elected those Congressional representatives with the understanding that they will decide what laws should and should not be obeyed and by whom, particularly since they are undermining law enforcement and public safety on all levels, from town beat cops to federal agents.
The people elected America’s sheriffs to uphold and enforce the rule of law and we will not waiver from our promise to keep our residents as safe as possible from victimization. America’s sheriffs will not stand silent while Congress is choosing to allow, enable and encourage lawbreakers, without consequence, to traffic drugs, perpetuate gang violence and commit other serious crimes like rape, murder and robbery against those we — and they — swore a sacred oath to protect.
It is time for We, the People of the United States of America to speak out and tell Congress to do the job that they were elected to do, and immediately end their brazen attempt to protect lawbreakers by ending the 287(g) public safety partnerships.
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