Another Reason For Americans-Last Governors To Hate Sheriffs

Incoming Border Czar Tom Homan.

There has been a movement afoot for about a decade in Washington State, pushed by the Democrat politicians and the racist Defund Police Movement, to remove jail operations from each county’s elected sheriff and turn them over to an unelected bureaucrat chosen by the Ruling Elite. We here in Pacific County, Washington started calling these bureaucrats the “Pacific County Deep State,” after they removed jail operations from our very popular sheriff on December 26, 2024 with no notice to the public.

Because most sheriffs throughout the nation are elected* by We The People, governors or attorneys general have little power over them. The Left HATES that!

The Authoritarian Left lusts for ever more power and control in the hands of Big Government, so long as they run Big Government. Traditionally, sheriffs are elected directly by the Americans residing in their counties, and most of them see their role as a public servant protecting their neighbors from all manner of harm, including oppressive Big Government.*

PROTECTING ILLEGALS FROM DEPORTATION

Starting January 20th The Left will have another reason to hate elected sheriffs: In many, many jurisdictions across America, they will be on the frontlines helping Border Czar Tom Homan identify, arrest and deport millions of Biden’s unvetted “newcomers.”

Like all law enforcement officers, sheriffs have discretion in how they conduct traffic stops and arrests, which can result in putting people in jail, where deportations often begin. Indeed, in county jails, most of which are run by elected sheriffs, arrestees submit to background checks and can be held & processed for deportation proceedings. A program called Secure Communities, started by the Bush 43 Administration and expanded by the Obama Administration, identifies potentially deportable people in jails.

Police departments in Democrat sanctuary cities and Democrat sanctuary states are prohibited, by law or by executive order, from cooperating with US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in identifying the illegals held in their jails and from assisting in their deportations. Indeed, the politicians require illegal alien inmates get special protections, and be released in secret to prevent arrests by ICE agents. THAT is why, in recent years, We The People have watched helplessly as rapists and murderers, such as the monster who slaughtered Laken Riley, are released to prey upon the law-abiding. After they complete their jail/prison terms, these foreign nationals walk freely on America’s streets because ICE is not told of their release dates.

SHERIFFS PARTNERING WITH TOM HOMAN

Ever since November 10, 2024, when Trump announced that he was chosen as “border czar,” Tom Homan has been all over the airwaves and internet discussing & explaining his plans. He has three goals: 1) Removing national security threats; 2) Removing public safety threats; and 3) Finding the over 325,000 foreign children which the Biden Regime turned over to sex & labor traffickers (to reunite with their parents).

“I am pleading with sanctuary cities: Let us in the jails to arrest the bad guy. That way, you are not forcing them into the community. If you go to the immigrant community and ask them ‘would you rather have ICE operating in the jails, or do you want them in the community?’ what do you think they are going to say? They don’t want bad, criminal aliens in their community, either. Let us work with the jails. Let us work with law enforcement. Sanctuary cities aren’t safe for the immigrant community. They aren’t safe for law enforcement officers.”

Homan on CBS’s Face The Nation on Sunday.

Both Trump and Homan have indicated that local law enforcement would be assisting ICE in carrying out their mass deportation plan. Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who served as Trump 45’s Secretary of the Interior, declared, “The sheriffs know the bad characters.” There’s a huge advantage to the county sheriff in particular because nearly all of them are elected by residents in their counties.* Thus, they are not beholden to politicians and bureaucrats. Many sheriffs across the country have expressed a willingness to work with Trump and Homan in their deportation efforts because they see, first hand, the harm illegals cause in their communities.

BILL CLINTON MOVED ICE INTO LOCAL JAILS

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which expanded the criminal charges for which a person could be subject to deportation. Local law enforcement, especially county sheriffs who are directly accountable to the voters (urban police departments are accountable to politicians & bureaucrats), began playing a critical role in the deportation process. In counties along the US borders, sheriffs receive funding, through a FEMA grant program called Operation Stonegarden, to purchase equipment such as snowmobiles and squad cars for use in conjunction with Border Patrol.

In 2014 the program was modified slightly to prioritize the deportation of individuals accused of felonies. The following year, the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement set several agency records related to arrests and deportations. It was led, at that time, by Tom Homan.^

Another federal program, called 287(g), grants sheriff deputies permission to act as immigration agents themselves, questioning arrestees about their nationality and transferring them to ICE’s custody. During Trump 45, sheriffs clamored to join 287(g), and John F. Kelly, then Secretary of Homeland Security, called the program a “highly successful force multiplier.” The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) recruited sheriffs to join 287(g).

The Trump 47 Administration is poised to alter existing guidelines so that even more arrestees can enter deportation proceedings. In some states, it is possible that sheriffs will be able to arrest people for simply crossing the border. For example, in 2023, Texas passed Senate Bill 4, which allows local law enforcement to arrest individuals suspected of violating immigration law. Similar bills passed in Iowa and Oklahoma. In November Arizonans voted to implement Ballot Measure 314, a comparable law.

Sheriffs have great influence in rural and suburban communities, where voters are probably more likely to know their sheriff’s name than that of their senators or governor. It’s clear that Trump 47 views sheriffs as crucial partners in the deportation work ahead. On a recent trip to Arizona, with the talk-show host Dr. Phil, Homan met with a group of sheriffs. There, he emphasized his eagerness to “help these sheriffs make their communities safer and secure the border once again.”

*In some Blue States, the governor appoints the county sheriff. For example, King County, Washington (Seattle), with the biggest population in the state, has an appointed sheriff who takes orders from politicians & bureaucrats, not the voters. THAT is why the 2020 Democrat-funded BLM/Antifa riots were allowed to last FOR MONTHS, and rioters murdered two innocent, young BLACK men. Most elected sheriffs would have started arresting the rioters on the first night because they WANT TO protect their citizens.

^Homan, age 62, joined what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1984, serving as a Border Patrol agent, investigator, and supervisor. He was appointed by President Barack Obama as Immigration and Customs Enforcement's executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations in 2013. In 2015, President Obama gave Homan a Presidential Rank Award as a Distinguished Executive. A Washington Post article at the time stated, "Thomas Homan deports people. And he's really good at it."