ICE Agents Allowed Back in L.A. Jails to do Their Jobs... Sort Of

Courtesy AP Images

Via the Los Angeles Times:

Federal immigration agents have returned to Los Angeles County jails to seek out deportable inmates under a new policy by Sheriff Jim McDonnell that has prompted criticism from immigrant advocates who say it could lead to racial profiling.

The new Sheriff’s Department policy, made public Tuesday, comes after county lawmakers voted this year to end a controversial program that allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to work inside the jails to assess the immigration status of inmates.

Now ICE agents are being allowed back inside, but only to interview inmates who have committed serious crimes and are not protected by the California Trust Act. That 2013 law limits when local law enforcement officials can collaborate with federal immigration authorities.

Note that the program which previously allowed them to do their jobs is referred to as “controversial.”

This is the madness we’re dealing with here in border states. There are plenty of laws on the books to deal with the criminal element that moves freely from Mexico into the United States, but they’re not enforced. Not only are they not enforced, it’s “controversial” if the feds even attempt to do their job.

Guess who has been undermining the federal government the most in recent years?

The federal government.

This administration kowtows to the pro-illegal immigration lobby like no other. Republicans don’t get a pass though, as evidenced by the current state of the GOP presidential race, and leadership has long been weak on this issue.

What we’re left with are laws that are only laws when random elected officials decide they want to pay attention to them. That, of course, means they aren’t actually laws, merely occasional rules.

It took the murder of a young woman by an illegal who should have been sent back to Mexico long before he had a chance to kill her to even make it palatable to the Democrats to revisit existing laws. Sadly, the short attention span of the politicians and much of the electorate will probably allow the dangerous status quo to remain more or less intact.