And yet somehow we do
Hey, did you hear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is about to unleash one of the widest, most sweeping operations ever to detain illegal aliens in the San Francisco area? There’s a good chance you did because it’s been all over the news, including at FOX.
Federal officials are planning a major sweep of the Bay Area and other Northern California areas in the coming weeks as part of an operation to target more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants in the area, The San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The source told The Chronicle that the sweep is expected to be the largest of its kind since President Trump took office. ICE officials declined to comment on the operation, the paper reported.
Upon hearing about the planned the operation Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accused the Trump administration of trying to make a political point.
California has clashed with law enforcement over immigration enforcement for a number of years. In October, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB54 into law, which effectively limits local police from cooperating with federal authorities.
Well, that’s pretty great, isn’t it? The President said he’d be cracking down on illegal aliens and DHS has been carrying out that directive. And if you happen to support stronger border security and enforcement of our immigration laws, this is a welcome sign. But there is one, pesky little question we might also be asking right about now.
Why do we know about this?
The story was leaked by “a source familiar with the matter.” (As usual.) Do you really believe that Homeland Security or the specific officials at ICE responsible for making this happen wanted it all over the headlines? If they did they could have put out a press release or had the Press Secretary make an announcement during the afternoon press scrum at the White House. But no… they probably wouldn’t do that because all that’s been accomplished is to warn all the prospective targets that the agents are on the way so they can move out of their usual digs and not show up to their (illegally held) jobs for a while.
So who put this out? Maybe one of the ICE agents… maybe someone embedded fairly deeply at DHS. But either way, you can be assured that it was somebody who wasn’t onboard with Trump’s agenda. And the fact that Dianne Feinstein was out with a prepared statement opposing the operation so quickly gives us a fair indication that she was brought into the leaking loop rather fast.
And while we’re on the subject, how is it that a member of the United States Senate is making a public statement in opposition to immigration officials doing their jobs? Yes, yes… we get that you come from “the sanctuary state” and you have to impress your donors, but nobody is asking for local law enforcement to take part here. The feds are doing it on their own and they are targeting people who are in the country illegally. As a member of the Senate aren’t you supposed to be onboard with, you know… enforcing the law?
The fact remains that this sweep wouldn’t be needed if ICE had the normal level of cooperation with state and local law enforcement. If they could pick up illegal aliens who are nabbed by the cops while they were still in jail cells, ICE agents wouldn’t have to chase them around in your communities. That’s far more dangerous to both the agents and the public anyway. But you had a choice of doing it the easy way or the hard way. You chose the hard way, but apparently you’re going to continue to make it even harder.
