Suspension of Fairfax County Police Officer for Cooperating with ICE Violates Federal Law, Undermines Public Safety, Says FAIR
(October 2, 2019, Washington, D.C.) —The following statement was issued by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in response to the suspension of a Fairfax County, Virginia police officer for cooperating with ICE after a traffic stop:
“Fairfax County clearly and unambiguously violated federal law and undermined public safety when it suspended a county policy officer for detaining an illegal alien driver until Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrived after the illegal alien had been involved in an accident.
“The illegal alien in question not only failed to possess a valid driver’s license but had an outstanding warrant issued by ICE for failing to show up for a deportation hearing.
“The officer, who was following his duty to protect the public by cooperating with federal immigration authorities, has been suspended because Fairfax County honors sanctuary policies. These policies prohibit the cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration officials, which is violating Title 8, Section 1373 of the U.S. Code.
“Specifically, sanctuary policies violate the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 that prohibits state and local governments from restricting their employees from sharing and receiving information regarding illegal aliens with the federal government. Sanctuary policies that shield criminal aliens from the administration of federal law conflict with the execution of immigration law as Congress intended.
“Furthermore, sanctuary policies clearly threaten public safety, as they allow criminal and illegal aliens to be turned back onto the streets instead of being removed. There are countless tales from Angel Families who have needlessly lost loved ones due to the carnage left by criminal and illegal aliens. All of these deaths were preventable through better immigration enforcement.
“The American public deserves the full protection of both federal and local law enforcement, including immigration enforcement. When all arms of law enforcement are able to work together, the public and the nation benefits.”
Contact: Matthew Tragesser, mtragesser@fairus.org or 202-328-7004