Washington, DC — As America’s Voice has been stating, the mass deportation crusade makes everyone less safe (see our recent fact sheet on the topic here). In addition to the majority of Americans in recent polling who now agree that ICE operations are making us “less safe.” Law enforcement and medical professionals from Minnesota and across the nation are also expressing their rebuke of the Trump Administration.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“Whether you are an American citizen or a hard-working immigrant, the anti-immigrant agenda of this administration makes every one of us less safe. Now, local law enforcement leaders are making it powerfully clear that the flood of untrained and unchecked federal agents are not only harming our communities, but eroding the trust between citizens and their local law enforcement. Yesterday, law enforcement leaders in Minnesota made clear in no uncertain terms that sending thousands of over-militarized, masked and armed immigration agents to American communities raises the likelihood of violence; stokes fear and conflict; and harms community policing and law enforcement. Meanwhile, the administration’s choice to divert federal money, manpower, and investigative resources into their mass deportation crusade compounds the danger. We must find a better way that upholds our values and promotes unity instead of division.”
Among the key voices speaking out about how the mass deportation crusade is making us less safe, endangering lives and violating Americans’ rights include:
- Chief Axel Henry of the St. Paul Police Department noted that city employees had been subject to “traffic stops that were clearly outside the bounds of what federal agents are allowed to do … We watch the news and we see very, very angry groups of people out protesting, but the people that we’re dealing with as police chiefs are the people that are scared to death, that are afraid to go outside [Not because their status is in question, but because people] … are getting stopped by the way that they look, and they don’t want to take that risk.”
- Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna S. Witt: “The trust is fragile right now, and it is an essential element to public safety. Today that trust is being damaged, broken by the questionable and sometimes unethical actions of some — some — federal agents, particularly in these last recent weeks.”
- Mark Bruley, chief of the Brooklyn Park, MN Police Department said that off-duty department officers were among those targeted by ICE and asked to provide proof of citizenship, noting: “I wish I could tell you this was an isolated incident,”…“If it is happening to our officers, it pains me to think of how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day. It has to stop.”
- Janna Gewirtz O’Brien, a member of the executive board of the Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics noted, “violence and the threat of family separation” could affect her young patients for many years to come…Chemical weapons have no place in our neighborhoods or schools. They can have life-threatening effects on children,” she said. “It’s only a matter of time before a child dies.” Gerwitz O’Brien was one of the medical experts speaking at a press conference yesterday (see coverage in the Minnesota Reformer, “Minnesota doctors say immigration crackdown is forcing patients to hide, endangering lives”).
- Former ICE Chief of Staff and CBP Counterterrorism Official Jason Houser: “Immigration enforcement in the United States has drifted away from its core purpose. What began as a public safety function—focused on serious threats and guided by professional judgment—has become something far more volatile: politicized, disconnected from local realities, and increasingly dangerous for everyone involved.”
