According to a new report by the Daily Beast, Donald Trump’s White House has asked some sheriffs to keep undocumented immigrants in jail longer that it is legally allowed.
Republican Sheriff Bob Gualtieri spoke with the Daily Beast, saying:
“If we violate the law by doing what they ask us to do, we’re subjecting ourselves, no question, to civil liability and civil rights violations.”
Gualtieri went on to blast the Trump White House, saying that they have no understanding of the legal issues involved when Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“My takeaway from that conversation with Stephen Miller is that he was uninformed about this problem,” Gualtieri said. “I think that there are certain admin officials who think that these warrants [detainers] solve the problem, and are saying, ‘What are you sheriffs doing? Why aren’t you cooperating?’”
In a statement provided to the Daily Beast, Republican Sheriff Richard Stanek, of Hennepin County, MN, also shared his concern for being asked to do illegal work.
“The current ICE detainer notion that sheriffs can and should hold alleged illegal aliens beyond the time that their local charges are adjudicated is in violation of their constitutional rights while in the United States of America, and ICE knows this,” Stanek said. “The U.S. courts have ruled against this notion time and time again – the way forward for ICE and local Sheriffs in partnership to protect public safety is a solution that both provides for public safety while at the same time protecting an individual’s constitutional rights.”
“We can’t keep doing it this way,” Sheriff Gualtieri explained. “The sheriffs are in the absolute definition of a dilemma because we want to cooperate – we don’t want criminal illegals on the street, we don’t want a Kate Steinle situation, we want people safe – but at the same time, we’re obligated to follow the law.”
“It just needs to be expedited,” Republican Sheriff Greg Champagne said. “They need the people to do it, they need the effort to do it. We’re a little frustrated.”
“A variety of options are under review,” ICE said in a statement, “but no final decisions or formal plans have been submitted for action at this time.”
Sheriffs say the Trump administration is trying to make them violate the 4th amendment https://t.co/Vc2Af8l0ad
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) August 19, 2017
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