If You Work for ICE, Don’t Bother Calling 911

Imagine that you work in an office building. Now imagine that outside of this office building there is a large, very angry crowd gathered protesting what they believe to be the policy of the President. Still imagining, you work for a government agency that’s at the heart of the policy in question, not a field agent but you work for the agency, and that large, very angry crowd has some folks in it that are menacing and appear to be violent. At this point, you call 911 Emergency Service because all you want to do is go home at the end of the workday. You wait for the police, but no one shows up. You call again, still no one to serve and protect. What would you do?

If you worked in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Portland, Oregon you already have the answer to that question. But not hypothetically because it happened during the, sometimes violent, week-long demonstrations in front of their offices. Employees were trapped by the so-called Occupy ICE protests which consisted of many pro-illegal alien folks with a little Antifa sprinkled in for good measure. At least two documented 911 calls were placed by the ICE employees but the police either refused or were not allowed to respond. Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler, is at the heart of the issue. The mayor has put in place a policy that forbids Portland law enforcement agencies from assisting any ICE employees while at or away from work. Mayor Wheeler is so strongly committed to the left’s “Resistance” of all things Donald Trump that he is perfectly willing to let citizens of his city who happen to be federal employees fend for themselves against misguided mobs. (Another great example of virtue signaling in the absence of any real virtue.)

The National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a union representing ICE employees, has written a cease-and-desist letter to Mayor Wheeler, asking him to ensure the police enforce the law equally and protect innocent people. The letter says, “Your current policy forbidding Portland law enforcement agencies from assisting employees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency who request law enforcement assistance while at or away from work is a violation of the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.” However, at this point, there is little indication that the mayor is planning to make changes to his policy.

I’m afraid that it will take litigation to remedy any of this, and I’m further afraid that more people will be injured (or worse) before that’s done. Before I go any further, I want to make clear that I am not critical of law enforcement in this case. The men and women in blue, no matter what city or town they work in, do a very hard job often extremely tough circumstance. In this case, the policy of the mayor makes it impossible for the police of Portland to do their jobs. There may very well be some officers who believe as the mayor does, but it is doubtful that there is law enforcement personnel out there who want to see lawlessness on their streets. The failing here is Mayor Wheeler’s need to “stick it to Trump.”

For those who are angry at President Trump for his border policy, the separation of children from adults being detained for illegally crossing our border is not his policy and never was it. It was a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals during the Obama administration that made it necessary. Obama did the same thing after that ruling and struggled to execute it. If you are angry about Trump’s policy for any other reason, then you are just mad that he is attempting to enforce the law and that’s not worthy of a rebuttal.

For those of you who are caught up in the “Abolish ICE” hysteria, how many of you know what ICE does on a day to day basis? Many people who fall under that category may be simply following others and have no real idea about this federal agency and what it does. Learn more about ICE from independent sources, and then if you still feel the same, I’d love to know why. Unless you are a terrorist or an illegal alien you do not need to fear them. ICE works to make our communities safer. And for those who are “for the children,” many of these children being brought across our border as a legal prop without their parents or a family member when detained. Right now, there is a thriving human trafficking business in Central and South America built on the premise of using children to help provide legal cover for anyone caught illegally entering our country. These children are subjected to harsh conditions, dangerous travel, and often end up working on ranches and farms in slave-like conditions or the sex trade if they cross unimpeded. This also sometimes happens even if they are detained but are then released to “family members” in the States.

Shouldn’t we have policies and laws that are enforced that discourage and tries to end this horrific practice? The real problem in the news story about Portland’s ICE office being under siege isn’t the police who didn’t answer the call, and it isn’t the mob, or the violence carried out by members of Antifa in that mob, although those are big problems. The real problem is that the mayor of Portland encouraged lawlessness in the city he has sworn to serve. Wheeler’s policy allowed for innocent people to be endangered simply because he doesn’t like who they are working for, the federal government and in Wheeler’s mind Donald Trump. People who are working to enforce U.S. laws can be targeted by domestic terrorists (Antifa) in the name of others who are, by definition, criminals (illegal aliens). That is the real problem.