CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is out with a report on which counties are cooperating with the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants. The ACLU refers to its findings as the “jail-to-deportation pipeline.”
The ACLU notes which county sheriffs are cooperating with Immigration and Naturalization (ICE) on illegal inmates who are charged with other crimes. Eight of Wisconsin’s counties have formal agreements with ICE. They are: Sheboygan Fond Du Lac, Brown, Lafayette, Manitowoc, Marquette, Waushara and Waukesha.
Three counties, Walworth, Clark, and Waukesha counties, notify ICE when foreign-bord inmates land in their county jails.
The ACLU reports that 30 counties in Wisconsin regularly honor ICE detainer requests, where illegal immigrants are turned over to ICE before they are released from county incarceration. ICE has reimbursed some $2-million to those counties for the costs of jailing illegal immigrants.
Thank God that local sheriffs have a great deal of autonomy in Wisconsin. They are answerable to the voters. They have some discretion as to how their jails are run. And helping to remove those who are in the country illegally is consistent with their oath to uphold the Constitution.
The ACLU, which has become a bleeding-heart liberal group on the issue of illegal immigration, scolds these sheriffs as “betraying immigrants who live in their communities.” Hogwash. They are assisting in the removal of illegals from our county. Note the word-game. Immigrants and illegal immigrants are not the same. The former went through a process and are entitled to be here. The latter broke the law when they entered the country, and are cited in this report because they’re accused of additional crimes.
Indeed, they should be the first to be deported.
If only the spigot of the jail-to-deportation pipeline could be opened further.
Chris Conley
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