Deputization of officers a `force multiplier' for ICE
Jessica Vaughn of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies spoke with Boston Herald Radio yesterday about the Bay State’s Republican sheriffs deputizing their officers to act as immigration agents, and a bill that would halt foreign aid to countries that don’t take back their illegals:
Q: Some Massachusetts sheriffs want to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What would that entail?
A: The idea is to have local law enforcement officers who have training, and get cross-designated as federal immigration officers, once they have that training, and this is a real force multiplier for ICE, it enables them to have more people in critical places like jails be able to identify criminal aliens and start the deportation process.
It’s helpful to local jurisdictions that volunteer for this because that means they don’t have to wait for ICE to determine if someone is here illegally who’s in the jail.
They don’t have to wait for ICE to come down to their jail to start the deportation process. They are authorized to make that determination, whether someone is deportable, and start the paperwork.
And this doesn’t cost the federal government anything. It’s the local communities that are deciding to make the investment in this program, and they find they actually save a lot of money and improve public safety because fewer illegal aliens end up falling between the cracks. It’s really a win-win. Q: Is this something that the Trump administration can force communities to do?
A: No. This is a voluntary program. ... This was started by Congress because ICE can’t be everywhere. It’s an agency with limited resources and personnel.
Q: A bill in Congress proposes to cut off funding to countries that don’t take back criminal aliens.
A: Congress has been trying to address this problem for years now because the Obama administration has refused to use the law that we already have ... that if the Department of Homeland Security identifies what they call recalcitrant countries — and there are more than 20 of them that are very obstructive, and about 60 that just give us a hard time some of the time — the State Department is obliged to do that. But the State Department never wants to do that, because it doesn’t like ruffling the feathers ... This bill would up the ante by saying it’s not just going to be visas that we withhold from you, its going to be foreign aid as well, if we don’t get results.
For some of these countries, that’s what its going to take to take their people back, but it’s gotten out of hand under the Obama administration.