In a statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued blistering criticism of Washington’s new law making it the latest “sanctuary state” for illegal aliens. The agency said that while sanctuary policies, which prohibit law enforcement officials from detaining people for ICE’s deportation agents, may seem humane and kind, they are actually making the country less safe for law-abiding citizens.
“ICE maintains that cooperation by local law enforcement is an indispensable component of promoting public safety,” the agency said. “It’s unfortunate that current local and state laws and policies tie the hands of local law enforcement agencies that want and need to work with ICE to promote public safety by holding criminals accountable and providing justice and closure for their victims.
“Sanctuary policies not only provide a refuge for illegal aliens, but they also shield criminal aliens who prey on people in their own and other communities,” ICE continued. “When ICE officers and agents have to go out into the community to proactively locate these aliens, it puts personnel and potentially innocent bystanders at risk.”
In Washington, the new law will not only bar local officials from honoring ICE detention requests but from even asking individuals about their immigration status. They are also prohibited from notifying ICE when a criminal alien is set to be released from jail. Even on the West Coast, where these laws are becoming increasingly commonplace, Washington’s move is radical.
“Our state agencies are not immigration enforcement agencies,” said Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee. “We will not be complicit in the Trump administration’s depraved efforts to break up hard-working immigrant and refugee families.”
Ah yes, Trump’s “depraved efforts” to enforce the law. How dare he.
The Washington law was pushed forward by the same mistaken logic that other sanctuary bills have used as a foundation: That illegal aliens will be more likely to interact with the community and contact police if they know there is no risk of being deported. There is, of course, not a single study that proves sanctuary laws have any effect on this phenomenon. Illegal immigrants are notoriously cloistered and shut off from the community, and there’s not a law on any state’s books that’s going to convince them that it’s safe to call the police. This is a smokescreen meant to confuse citizens into believing that these laws actually improve public safety instead of doing just the opposite.
Illegal immigrants are obviously not all criminals, rapists, murderers, and so forth. Many of them are, as Trump once memorably said, “good people.” But not all of them. And the truth is that losing even a single American life to a criminal alien is too high a price to pay for these inane acts of “kindness.” Unfortunately, we’ve lost many more than that. Thanks to these laws, which are spreading like a disease across our nation, we are sure to lose many more still.
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