Immigration Disaster Averted in Florida

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As the madness that is the massive floodtide of illegal immigration into the U.S. continues, threatening the very cohesive structure of this nation, there is some good news coming out of Florida. Local law enforcement officials are flocking to sign onto a new program that will allow them to work in conjunction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and remove illegals from the Sunshine State.

The Warrant Service Officer (WSO) program was launched May 6 to allow police departments that may be prohibited by local or state laws from cooperating with immigration officials to honor ICE detainers by becoming, in effect, temporary ICE agents. Participating police officers, who are certified by ICE, will be able to serve federal detainers and hold illegals in local jails for up to 48 hours. If ICE does not take the illegal into custody after the 48 hours, he must be released.

Sunshine Sanity

Ten Florida law enforcement departments have already officially joined the program in the first two-plus weeks of its existence, but that number is poised to climb significantly higher. “I was told [there are] 37 [departments] that have agreed but that maybe have not completed the paperwork yet,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who has signed up, told The News Service of Florida.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd

There appears to be one state in the Union at least where community law enforcement officers are striving to protect local citizens from the problem of illegal immigration and all the added burdens it brings. “We don’t create the law. We don’t interpret the law. But we took a solemn oath to enforce the law,” Judd said when the program debuted. He stressed that the new initiative gives sheriffs’ offices on the ground in towns and cities “clear direction” and will enable them “to administer the ICE warrants for illegal criminal aliens, holding them accountable according to the law of the land, thus ridding not only our counties in Florida, but we can rid our counties and our communities across this nation of those illegally entering the country and committing criminal acts like drug trafficking.”

Serve the Citizenry

As to be expected, leftist organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union are already expressing their outrage. The cash-flush ACLU, which has shed its former pretense of impartiality and now openly embraces biased political activism, has been throwing money into local sheriffs’ elections across the country in an attempt to get police departments to stop working with ICE. It looks like it will have a hard time shopping for sheriffs in Florida.

“ICE and the other agencies complicit in Trump’s deportation force may feel they are above the Constitution – but neither they, nor local police, are exempt from search and seizure laws,” Lorella Praeli, ACLU deputy political director, predictably said of the new program. “We urge local law enforcement to resist this dangerous proposal and stand by their commitment to the communities they serve.”

For the ACLU, illegals represent “community” while the rights of citizens to have safe, stable, and healthy neighborhoods are not worthy of consideration. Sheriff Judd in Polk County begs to disagree. He plans to have as many as 20 corrections officers certified under WSO so they can staff his jail on a full-time basis, 24 hours a day.

“The only thing that will cost us is the labor time, because the training will be free,” Judd told The News Service of Florida. “It will be kind of like their normal workday.”

Police officers actively participating in the removal of those illegally residing in their localities: What a novel idea. In Florida, we are hopefully witnessing the beginnings of a groundswell of law enforcement officials eager to “protect and serve” the actual citizens of their communities instead of wringing their hands over the feelings of those who have already committed a crime with their very unauthorized presence on our soil.

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About the author

Joe Schaeffer

Political Columnist at LibertyNation.com Joe Schaeffer is a veteran journalist with 20+ years' experience. He spent 15 years with The Washington Times, including 8+ years as Managing Editor of the newspaper's popular National Weekly Edition. Striving to be a natural health nut, he considers staring at the ocean for hours to be an act of political rebellion.