Jan. 20 is rapidly approaching, and President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to start mass deportation plans on his first day in office. Some rejoice while others shudder in horror, but the red tide has spoken, and sheriffs across the country are coming together to help the commander-in-chief remove illegals from the country.
Sheriffs Plan Deportation Efforts
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added a section to authorize ICE to get the help of state and local law enforcement to aid in immigration matters. Section 287(g), according to the ICE website, allows the agency “to enhance collaboration with state and local law enforcement partners to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of noncitizens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.”
In 2012, however, ICE discontinued the task force part of the section because the agency thought there were better methods of enforcement. Trump is reinstating it, and many sheriffs are lining up to become an active part.
There is speculation on just how much the incoming president will add to the program. The Wall Street Journal reported that an unnamed source said that under one plan being considered, blue states, or areas that support sanctuary status, could lose a lot of federal funding if they don’t participate. Currently, billions of dollars are given to reimburse nonprofits and cities that help migrants at the border, but if this plan is approved, the money will go to local law enforcement agencies that turn the illegal migrants over to ICE.
The past four years of mostly open borders have “created an enormous amount of pressure on local law enforcement, state law enforcement agencies, across the country, not just along the border,” Jonathan Thompson, the executive director of the nonpartisan National Sheriffs’ Association, told The Journal. “It’s created havoc in many, many communities.” He added that state and local law enforcement, “and in particular sheriffs,” will be crucial to Trump’s deportation plans.
Sheriff Richard Jones of Butler County, Ohio, also a strong supporter of the president-elect, said he is ready to get started on the program. When asked by The Journal if he supported mass deportation, he replied, “Sure, I do. And so do the American people. … People are tired of this.”
Sheriff Chuck Jenkins of Frederick County, Maryland, said he would participate in 287(g) if it is re-enacted. His county has around 300,000 residents and a lot of transplants from the nation’s capital, turning his area ever bluer. He said 287(g) was successful when enforced, creating a “virtual fence” around the county. The lawman did say he wasn’t targeting all illegal immigrants; gang members and criminals are his first priority. But, he added, “Listen, they’re here illegally. They shouldn’t be here. You know, I look as an American citizen that we can’t sustain this. It’s not tenable for us to continue to allow people to come into this country by the hundreds of thousands or millions.”
Remember when Mayor Eric Adams, just a few years ago, crowed that New York was a sanctuary city? After experiencing a couple of years of open border effects, he has changed his attitude and is now willing to work with the second Trump administration to deport illegal migrants who have been charged with crimes. Before, he had limited it to those officially convicted first.
However, some blue officials have vowed to fight Trump’s deportation efforts. Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) boldly said, “If you come for my people, you come through me.”
Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said she wouldn’t help the president-elect’s plans. “What I will unequivocally say is that, as governor, I will not tolerate efforts that are part of misguided policies that harm our communities, that threaten our communities, that terrorize our communities, and Arizona will not take part in those.”
As Liberty Nation News Political Columnist Joe Schaeffer reported, “Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has grabbed the nation’s attention for his theatrical pronouncement that he would use local police and a vast array of citizen volunteers to block federal authorities from conducting mass deportations of illegal aliens in his city.” Johnston’s comments sparked outrage, including from the editorial board at the Denver Post, which criticized the mayor with an editorial titled, “Denver’s mayor was wrong to threaten armed conflict to protect immigrants,” Fox News noted. Furthermore, the editorial read, “We are not surprised Johnston recklessly elevated the rhetoric around protecting Coloradans without legal immigration status. But that doesn’t make it OK.”
Some state and local officials may not agree with Trump’s deportation program and threaten to ignore it, but the red tide is gaining even more ground. In 2019, during the Trump administration, King County, Washington, violated a contract it had with the federal government to deport illegals from the King County Airport, also known as Boeing Field. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled the action was discriminatory against ICE and targeted federal operations, Fox News explained. “The U.S. in 2020 sued the county, alleging that it violated the terms of a World War II-era contract that guarantees the federal government’s rights to use the airport along with discriminating against ICE.”
The ruling on Nov. 30 upheld the court’s decision, and 9th Circuit Judge Daniel A. Bress wrote, “This is not a situation in which King County officials are being conscripted into carrying out federal immigration laws on the federal government’s behalf.” The ruling stated, “Instead, the United States is asking King County, in its capacity as the owner of a public airport facility, to lift a discriminatory prohibition on private parties’ ability to engage in business with the federal government that supports federal immigration efforts.”
