Illegal immigrants who broke the law can now (illegally?) carry a gun as LA police officers

LOS ANGELES, CA - In the “believe it or not” department, the Los Angeles Police Department is hiring known criminals to patrol the streets of one of America’s largest cities, which Law Enforcement Today reported in December.

Now, according to The Federalist, the same criminals, also called illegal immigrants, are going to be allowed to carry a firearm in order to enforce the laws upon citizens who are in the US legally. As The Federalist put it, "Illegally present foreigners who don’t have the constitutional right to bear arms can arrest and even disarm a U.S. citizen who does."

The known criminals being hired are so-called “dreamers,” who are part of the illegal aliens permitted to remain in the United States by Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program from 2012. 

Under DACA, those who arrived illegally in the United States and claimed to be minors are permitted to delay deportation to their home country, although truth be told, under Joe Biden, hardly anyone is getting deported. 

DACA recipients can begin the citizenship process by applying for a green card, which is the first step in the process. As The Federalist notes, many “dreamers” continue seeking DACA renewals, which allow them to keep working and living in the US. At the same time, they are still foreign citizens and admitted criminals, having violated our sovereign border. 

Historically, US citizens (and lawful permanent residents who are going through the process of becoming legal citizens) were the only people who could serve as police officers. However, in 2022, a law was passed in the Democrat-led California legislature, which authorized hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, including DACA recipients, to get work authorization in order to serve as police officers across the liberal-leaning state.

According to LA Police Captain Robin Petillo, those illegals will be allowed to “possess department-issued firearms on and off duty.” In addition, the city will hire illegal aliens who are currently in police training. 

“We’ve tried to carve [out] just what is necessary for DACA, and these individuals be treated on the same basis of which non-DACA recipients are, as to the possession of a department firearm and its use,” Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore told ABC-7. 

Some cities refuse to hire illegal border crossers–Sacramento, for example–due to concerns about gun law violations. Los Angeles, however, has no such reservations, having hired at least a dozen DACA recipients to be police officers thus far. 

Under the Second Amendment, it guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” People, however, refer to US citizens only, which was reinforced in the Supreme Court decision, District of Columbia v. Heller. In that decision, according to the George Mason University Law Review, the high court “emphasized the connection between citizenship, the ‘political community,’ and the right to bear arms.” 

Moreover, the 1968 Gun Control Act, passed by a Democrat House, Democrat Senate, and a Democrat president, Lyndon Johnson, explicitly prohibits foreign citizens from possession of firearms and ammunition. In addition, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2017 that DACA does not exempt illegal aliens from that gun law. 

However, The Federalist notes that an exception is carved out in the 1968 Act that allows illegals to possess firearms “for the use of, the United States or any department or agency thereof or any State or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof.”

Still, according to some readings of the Act, that particular section doesn't appear to apply to "prohibited persons" but rather says it doesn't apply "to the transportation, shipment, receipt, possession or importation of any firearm or ammunition imported for, sold or shipped to, or issued for the use of, the United States or any department or agency thereof or any State or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof."