ISSUE: Sanctuary
Sanctuary hides illegal immigrants
Sanctuary is a word to describe a practice of our local and state law enforcement. Sanctuary typically means a place where one can go to hide or avoid authority. Sanctuary policies by local and state law enforcement are policies that allow illegal aliens to conduct themselves without concern for enforcement of our immigration laws.
There are two parts to Sanctuary. The first involves identification, the willingness to ask someone if they are a legal US Citizen. In Utah, most law enforcement agencies support this. They are willing, but few, if any, ask. There is no set policy against asking, BUT THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTIONS TO DO SO, either.
The second part of Sanctuary is the larger problem in Utah. Local and state law enforcement agencies fail to deputize their officers as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE). Within BICE, a program exists which allows deputizing local enforcement officers. Once trained, they become ICE officers, able to support BICE issues at the local level.
Some police departments have a set policy that prohibits police officers from enforcing any immigration laws against the violent criminals they encounter. They do this as a misguided "goodwill" gesture to supposedly build raport with ethnic communities and reduce crime. However keeping these violent offenders in the State has had tragic consequences
During the past year, there were several violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the State of Utah. These crimes ranged from murder, assault, rape of infants and children, armed robbery, identity theft and many more. Many of these crimes were committed by criminals with prior arrests and involvement in gangs. Had the immigration laws been enforced against them during their initial arrests, many of these crimes may not have happened.
There are very few ICE agents in the State of Utah. BICE needs all the help it can get. By deputizing several officers as ICE officers from each local and state law enforcement agency, the ICE agent would then be able to provide support for the local department, and act as an interface with BICE. What is unfortunate is that instead of a steady and consistent support by state and local law enforcement of our immigration laws, BICE is left to its own efforts. With so few agents in the state, they are overwhelmed. With greater support from local and state law enforcement agencies, these issues could be handled in a much more efficient manner, instead of largely being ignored, as they now are.