In the annals of brain-dead ideas, one would need to go far and wide to come up with a worse idea than what legislators and governors in California, Illinois, and Colorado have hatched.
All three states have recently signed legislation that will allow non-citizens…aka “illegal aliens,”…to become police officers, a Washington Times report informs us.
The Times reviewed public documents which confirm this travesty.
Think about this for a minute. Criminal aliens who entered the country illegally will now work alongside police officers who were required to pass a background and psychological test (at minimum) to earn the “right” to deprive American citizens of their liberty.
Ostensibly, the three states passed the legislation because police departments need help attracting recruits. Indeed, that has nothing to do with the fact that, especially in the case of Illinois, the state legislature and Gov. J.B. Pritzker have nearly completely tied the hands of law enforcement through their “criminal justice reform” measures.
The new laws have caught the attention of some who question the legality of what the three states have done, including Matt O’Brien, a former immigration judge.
“It’s a massive problem,” O’Brien told the Times. “You’ve got this muddle of issues where there is no settled law, and it’s now crashing into the fact that these idiots in the defund-the-police movement have caused a crisis in law enforcement.”
What could possibly go wrong? The only requirement in California law is that anyone who obtained federal work authorization may apply to be a police officer, and illegal aliens paroled by the Department of Homeland Security are eligible to apply for that work authorization, DHS said. Far-left Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 960 into law in September 2022.
Meanwhile, House Bill 3751 in Illinois, signed into law by Pritzker in July, also permits non-citizens to become police officers. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 23-1143 into law in April. That law allows DACA recipients (illegal aliens) to become armed police officers in that state. The Denver Post reported Polis as saying the law was passed to “alleviate the police shortage” in the state.
This leads to the question likely on the minds of police officers in all three states. What if, included among those who came to the United States illegally were members of terrorist organizations? What if they are MS-13 gang members? The vetting of those entering the United States has been nothing short of a joke, and it has been reported that many known terrorists and gang members have been apprehended at the border. What then of the so-called “gotaways?”
In a July 2022 report, the New York Post reported that over half a million known gotaways were reported to be in the United States and had eluded capture.
A report filed by Fox News in January of this year put the total number since Biden took office at 1.2 million. Do you think any of them have a criminal record? Are any of them terrorists? How about members of criminal gangs like MS-13?
In police work, police must be able to rely on their fellow officers mainly because their life might depend on it.
Ironically, when liberal Democrats complain about so-called “systemic racism” and lack of proper training, they are willing to arm people and give them the right to interfere with the God-given rights of American citizens without adequately screening them.
We have reported before on these pages that when it comes to police budgets, one of the first items to get cut is training, including use-of-force.
“We known nothing—literally nothing—about these people other than what they told us,” Rosemary Jenks, vice president at Numbers USA, a group that fights for stricter immigration controls, told the Times.
“We don’t even know if they’re giving us their real names, and if they have a criminal record back home, they’re definitely not giving us their real names. So how are you going to vet people?”
Elizabeth Jacobs, director of regulatory affairs at the Center for Immigration Studies, agrees with Jenks, telling the Times, ”If we are having folks that our government knows are in violation of the law or have broken the law. We are deputizing them to enforce other laws, that doesn’t bring confidence to our legal system.”
Indeed, let’s examine the consequences if someone is arrested by someone who entered the country illegally.
Any defense attorney worth their salt could use that to impugn the character and credibility of the arresting officer and give an opening for something along the lines of a mistrial or finding a guilty person innocent due to the officer's background.
There is also the possibility that, if somehow, a gang member was able to infiltrate the ranks of a police department, it would put the lives of officers at risk.
That gang member would be privy to intelligence on any operations being conducted by the department or, in a worst-case scenario, intercede in criminal activity. The downside to this idea far outweighs any perceived benefit these leftists believe there is.
Being a police officer is a hard enough job as it is without allowing criminals to infiltrate the ranks. If these bureaucrats were genuinely interested in improving their recruiting numbers, they would stop coddling criminals and embrace the men and women in blue who risk their lives on a daily basis. They would see to it that they are adequately compensated and fully trained.
They should also ensure that their state legislatures stop the woke nonsense and put some teeth back in the criminal statutes. They should ensure that when they do make an arrest, the criminal justice system fulfills its share of the responsibility by prosecuting criminals to the full extent of the law.
The fact is, nobody wants to be where they are not wanted. And that is precisely the message liberals like Newsom, Pritzker, and Polis have been sending. It’s time to get their heads out of their behinds and support their men and women in blue. Infiltrating the ranks with criminals is not the way to do it.
All three states have recently signed legislation that will allow non-citizens…aka “illegal aliens,”…to become police officers, a Washington Times report informs us.
The Times reviewed public documents which confirm this travesty.
Think about this for a minute. Criminal aliens who entered the country illegally will now work alongside police officers who were required to pass a background and psychological test (at minimum) to earn the “right” to deprive American citizens of their liberty.
Ostensibly, the three states passed the legislation because police departments need help attracting recruits. Indeed, that has nothing to do with the fact that, especially in the case of Illinois, the state legislature and Gov. J.B. Pritzker have nearly completely tied the hands of law enforcement through their “criminal justice reform” measures.
The new laws have caught the attention of some who question the legality of what the three states have done, including Matt O’Brien, a former immigration judge.
“It’s a massive problem,” O’Brien told the Times. “You’ve got this muddle of issues where there is no settled law, and it’s now crashing into the fact that these idiots in the defund-the-police movement have caused a crisis in law enforcement.”
What could possibly go wrong? The only requirement in California law is that anyone who obtained federal work authorization may apply to be a police officer, and illegal aliens paroled by the Department of Homeland Security are eligible to apply for that work authorization, DHS said. Far-left Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 960 into law in September 2022.
Meanwhile, House Bill 3751 in Illinois, signed into law by Pritzker in July, also permits non-citizens to become police officers. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 23-1143 into law in April. That law allows DACA recipients (illegal aliens) to become armed police officers in that state. The Denver Post reported Polis as saying the law was passed to “alleviate the police shortage” in the state.
This leads to the question likely on the minds of police officers in all three states. What if, included among those who came to the United States illegally were members of terrorist organizations? What if they are MS-13 gang members? The vetting of those entering the United States has been nothing short of a joke, and it has been reported that many known terrorists and gang members have been apprehended at the border. What then of the so-called “gotaways?”
In a July 2022 report, the New York Post reported that over half a million known gotaways were reported to be in the United States and had eluded capture.
A report filed by Fox News in January of this year put the total number since Biden took office at 1.2 million. Do you think any of them have a criminal record? Are any of them terrorists? How about members of criminal gangs like MS-13?
In police work, police must be able to rely on their fellow officers mainly because their life might depend on it.
Ironically, when liberal Democrats complain about so-called “systemic racism” and lack of proper training, they are willing to arm people and give them the right to interfere with the God-given rights of American citizens without adequately screening them.
We have reported before on these pages that when it comes to police budgets, one of the first items to get cut is training, including use-of-force.
“We known nothing—literally nothing—about these people other than what they told us,” Rosemary Jenks, vice president at Numbers USA, a group that fights for stricter immigration controls, told the Times.
“We don’t even know if they’re giving us their real names, and if they have a criminal record back home, they’re definitely not giving us their real names. So how are you going to vet people?”
Elizabeth Jacobs, director of regulatory affairs at the Center for Immigration Studies, agrees with Jenks, telling the Times, ”If we are having folks that our government knows are in violation of the law or have broken the law. We are deputizing them to enforce other laws, that doesn’t bring confidence to our legal system.”
Indeed, let’s examine the consequences if someone is arrested by someone who entered the country illegally.
Any defense attorney worth their salt could use that to impugn the character and credibility of the arresting officer and give an opening for something along the lines of a mistrial or finding a guilty person innocent due to the officer's background.
There is also the possibility that, if somehow, a gang member was able to infiltrate the ranks of a police department, it would put the lives of officers at risk.
That gang member would be privy to intelligence on any operations being conducted by the department or, in a worst-case scenario, intercede in criminal activity. The downside to this idea far outweighs any perceived benefit these leftists believe there is.
Being a police officer is a hard enough job as it is without allowing criminals to infiltrate the ranks. If these bureaucrats were genuinely interested in improving their recruiting numbers, they would stop coddling criminals and embrace the men and women in blue who risk their lives on a daily basis. They would see to it that they are adequately compensated and fully trained.
They should also ensure that their state legislatures stop the woke nonsense and put some teeth back in the criminal statutes. They should ensure that when they do make an arrest, the criminal justice system fulfills its share of the responsibility by prosecuting criminals to the full extent of the law.
The fact is, nobody wants to be where they are not wanted. And that is precisely the message liberals like Newsom, Pritzker, and Polis have been sending. It’s time to get their heads out of their behinds and support their men and women in blue. Infiltrating the ranks with criminals is not the way to do it.
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The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments
2023-08-28T22:51-0400 | Comment by: Todd
WOW ! Law enforcement is already a sad state due to internal politics, good old boy systems, clicks, officers not learning the laws or elements thereof, etc. This will just further cripple law enforcement! It will further undermine public confidence, which is already very low, according to the multitudes I interact with. And will most assuredly put violent criminals, terrorist and highly skilled and military trained operatives from rogue nations and organized crime in prime positions for organized efforts to help destroy our Nation from within ! Best case scenario, illegal immigrants are Federal criminals simply by violating Federal Immigration Law !
2023-09-15T18:52-0400 | Comment by: S
And these politicians are supposed to be educated right?!?! Put them out there on the streets to handle the chaos because obviously they believe “anyone” can be a police officer. Let’s see how long they last having to work out in the cold & heat & at night not in a controlled environment like they fo now. I swear the more time goes on the more idiotic these politicians get.