Last week, California’s strict adherence to “sanctuary city” status caused the death of hero policeman Cpl. Ronil Singh. He was gunned down by a known gang member who was in the United States illegally. The killer’s very illegal status should have led to his removal by ICE before this senseless murder occurred.
Sanctuary laws tie the hands of the police. These laws were set in place to directly impede any contact from the police with ICE. In the case of gang member and accused killer Gustavo Arriaga, the police easily could have had ICE encounter him and remove him based on his previous arrests and warrants.
Before California passed SB54, the sanctuary law, California police routinely worked with ICE, in fact working with ICE to remove numerous criminal gang members from the same area where Arriaga killed Officer Singh. Now, under pain of losing their jobs, police are forbidden to contact the very agency that can rid the gang menace from their city streets.
In 2012, I served as an ICE supervisor. I volunteered to embed with a drug task force with the specific intent to determine how effectively ICE could work with police to remove criminal aliens. After 60 days and numerous contacts with police officers, there was overwhelming support from the police to work directly with ICE — no politics, just working together to make the streets safe from criminal aliens, especially known gang members operating unfettered.
The law is on the side of police to remove criminal gang members when they work with their federal partners. They can use laws such as the Racketeering Influence Corrupt Organizations Act, Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering, and gang conspiracy violations. Federal laws targeting gangs work if police are allowed to work with ICE. In fact, these same criminal laws took ten gang members off the streets in San Francisco this year.
Yes, even though San Francisco bills itself as a sanctuary city, they allowed their officers to work with ICE to target a criminal gang with overwhelmingly positive results.
You may not agree with the current immigration laws. You may support sanctuary cities. But community safety is everyone’s responsibility. Police should be able to fight crime where they find it. They should not have to turn a blind-eye because of political differences at city hall.
The police have access to federal resources. Let them use it to protect our streets.
Dr. Jason Piccolo is a former Border Patrol agent, ICE special agent, and DHS supervisor. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and author of Unwavering: A Border Agent’s Journey from Hunter to Hunted.
