IOPList.Org

Spike in Illegal Immigration Overwhelms Sheriffs;
Families Exposed to Gang, Drug Violence








MAY 11, 2021

JUDICIAL WATCH




Local law enforcement agencies nationwide are overwhelmed with criminal activity
linked to a huge increase in illegal immigration and families are being exposed to
violence associated with drug trafficking and transnational gangs, according to
hundreds of sheriffs across the United States. In a letter to President Joe Biden,
the law enforcement officials in more than two dozen states blast the administration’s
“reckless and irresponsible” open border policies that are exposing innocent citizens
to illegal alien violence. Titled, “Help America’s Sheriffs Keep Our Neighborhoods
and Communities Safe by Halting Illegal Immigration,” the document asserts that
the crisis began when Biden was vice president.

“In a myriad of ways, you and your administration are encouraging and sanctioning
lawlessness and the victimization of the people of the United States of America, all
in the name of mass illegal immigration,” the sheriffs write. “What is most troubling
to America’s Sheriffs is that you and your administration were well aware that this
crisis would happen when you ceased construction of the border wall and changed
border security policies.” The law enforcement officials continue: “Sheriffs were talking
with the Obama/Biden administration about these same concerns that we were
experiencing at the time based on the lax policies then being implemented. In fact,
America’s Sheriffs attended meetings in Washington with then-Undersecretary of
Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas, who is now your Secretary of
Homeland Security. You and he are fully aware of what illegal immigration does to
our citizens, legal residents and our communities.”

Among the letter’s signatories are sheriffs in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia,
Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina,
and Texas to name a few. Even sheriffs, who are typically elected to head county law
enforcement agencies, in states that broadly offer illegal immigrants sanctuary signed
the letter. They include several in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon,
New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, and Vermont. “You may imagine how violated
America’s Sheriffs feel that you unleashed a predictable crisis upon our nation
that puts those we promised to protect at risk of grave danger,” the cops write to
the commander-in-chief. “America’s Sheriffs will not defy our oaths. We will not
join with those who suggest that we ignore existing laws in collusion with those
elected officials who arbitrarily feel that they should be excused from being
accountable and required to follow our laws. To do so would violate the promise
of America’s Sheriffs to those who bestowed upon us the honor and privilege to
represent their safety and security concerns.”

The officials continue by writing that Americans expect them to uphold and
enforce the rule of law and assure that they will uphold the oath to do so.
“In the interests of ending the undermining of our laws and the increased risks
to the safety and security of the people of the United States of America, we
respectfully request that you immediately reverse course on your pro-illegal
immigration policies, resume the border wall construction, and embrace the
common-sense, public-safety-supporting border policies of the previous administration.”
The Obama and Trump administrations “recognized the threats and dangers presented
by illegal immigration,” the law enforcement officials write, adding that it is
“critically important” that Biden see it as well.

The sheriff who wrote the letter, Thomas M. Hodgson in Bristol County, Massachusetts,
sent it to his counterparts throughout the U.S. and 275 sheriffs in 39 states quickly
signed it. Hodgson authored it after government figures revealed a record number of
illegal immigrant minors entered the country from Mexico. Around the same time, the
U.S. Border Patrol disclosed that it arrested more than twice as many criminal migrants
in the first six months of fiscal year 2021 than it did in all of 2020. In the first half of
this fiscal year, the Border Patrol apprehended 5,018 “criminal aliens” compared to 2,438
in all of fiscal year 2020. The agency defines criminal aliens as individuals who have
been convicted of one or more crimes, whether in the U.S. or abroad, prior to
interdiction by federal agents.