I keep seeing videos and reading stories about ICE abusing United States Citizens. If you follow me on social media, you will know that I keep asking the question of why these ICE agents are not being arrested for assault. I thought that assault was assault, no matter who commits it, and that no one person is above the law. Where are our police who took an oath to protect the people and the Constitution?  Why aren’t the police out there protecting our right to protest? The Constitution guarantees our right to protest, which they took an oath to defend. Why are they not defending that? I read a story about how  ICE raided a Chicago apartment building. They had two vans, and they put all the Blacks in one van and all of the Hispanics in another. It doesn’t appear they had warrants, and it does appear that many were United States citizens. Why are the police and the local governments putting up with this type of Gestapo-type abuse?

I asked the question, “Does our police have a legal and ethical responsibility to protect legal immigrants and US citizens from abuses by ICE. The answer I got is that, legally, local police are not obligated to intervene in federal immigration enforcement, from abuses, but ethically and constitutionally, they may bear responsibility to protect individuals, citizens, and legal immigrants alike from abuses, especially if civil rights are violated. ICE is a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security. Local police are not required to assist ICE unless the local law enforcement has entered into a formal agreement with the Department of Homeland Security. If they have an agreement, the local officers are deputized and can perform certain immigration enforcement duties. Many sanctuary cities have adopted policies that limit the cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement. This helps us hold the trust between the community and the police.

Civil Rights protections are guaranteed under the Constitution. People are guaranteed under the Constitution equal protection under the law. If ICE violates these rights, such as unlawful detention, racial profiling, or excessive force, local police may have a duty to intervene or report misconduct, especially if they witness it directly. What I don’t like is that the word may, as in “may have a duty”.  They have taken an oath to the Constitution and to the community, and I don’t think there should be any question about what their responsibilities are. Their responsibilities should rest firmly with the community and the Constitution. Ethically, I think that police departments are expected to protect all residents from harm, including harm from other law enforcement agencies like ICE. This includes legal immigrants and citizens who are subject to unlawful or abusive treatment by ICE. When local police actively work with ICE in ways that violate civil liberties, such as detaining people without probable cause or ignoring due process, they risk becoming accomplices in the potential abuses. An alliance with ICE and local law enforcement can erode community trust, discourage crime reporting, and undermine public safety. Ethical policing requires balancing enforcement with protection and civil rights, and community relationships.

There are constitutional and legal foundations for the police not cooperating with ICE. With the Tenth Amendment and Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, local governments are not obligated to enforce federal immigration laws. New York v. United States (1992) says that States cannot be forced to implement federal regulatory programs. Printz v. United States (1997) says local law enforcement cannot be compelled to carry out federal mandates. The doctrine reinforces sanctuary policies, allowing cities to limit cooperation with ICE without violating federal law. We also have Due Process and Equal Protection that are guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Legal immigrants and citizens are protected from arbitrary detention, racial profiling, and denial of legal counsel. If ICE violates these rights, local police may have a duty to intervene or refuse to cooperate. Here again, I see the word may; I think they should be obligated to intervene. Local agencies that cooperate with ICE do so voluntarily and often at their own expense because you know the federal government will be really stingy in compensating the local governments. Ending cooperation is legally permissible and can easily be done by the local government through ordinances, administrative rules, or agency protocols.

Local police are not federal agents. They are guardians of our Constitutional rights. When ICE violates those rights, our police have a duty, not just to the law, but to the people – to stand and say: not here, not in our city. The Constitution does not deputize our law enforcement to be immigration officers. It deputizes them to protect the public, including legal immigrants and citizens, from unlawful government overreach. When an immigrant becomes a citizen, they are no longer an immigrant, so legal immigrants are just that, Immigrants that are here legally and have the right to be protected just like everyone else under the law.

We have let the Trump administration undermine our Constitution by letting him label everyone a criminal, whether a warrant has been issued, and there has been no due process that is guaranteed by the Constitution. To me, I think those acts of denial are a criminal act, and there needs to be consequences under the law, or else the law means nothing. We have to start examining the role of the police and decide if our money is being spent wisely, as it is being spent now.