The Trump administration reassigned Caleb Vitello, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s acting director because, according Department of Homeland Security sources, border czar Tom Homan and President Donald Trump expressed anger that the number of people being deported is not higher. Homan has also been troubled with media leaks that he attributed to fewer arrests than anticipated in certain operations. Vitello will stay with ICE to oversee enforcement of arrests, targeting and field operations.
Homan was referring to the disappointing results from ICE removal actions in Aurora, Colorado. ICE, supported by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Customs and Border Protection and the FBI, had targeted for arrest 100+ Tren de Aragua criminals. But as federal agents went from door to door, they found empty apartments while dozens of activists used bull horns to tip off local residents that enforcement was on its way. The volunteer protestors were made up mostly from Colorado Rapid Response Network (CORRN). In a nationally televised interview, Homan attributed leaks from the FBI as the cause for the botched Aurora enforcement action where only one TdA member was arrested. "We're not going to tolerate it [the leaks] anymore. This is not a game." Homan promised to launch an investigation to identify, then prosecute through the Department of Justice, the guilty parties. In a separate interview, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “If you leaked it, we will find out who you are, and we will come after you."
More than two weeks have passed since Homan and Bondi promised to identify the tipsters. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem recently told Sean Hannity that the informants have been identified but she provided no names or specifics. While waiting to complete their investigation, the border czar and the attorney general could pursue other lower hanging fruit. Just days after President Donald Trump entered the White House, Denver Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore used multiple social media platforms to encourage Colorado residents to report ICE activity. By “activity,” Gilmore meant ICE’s lawful mission to remove illegal and possibly criminal aliens. Instead, in Gilmore’s view, "This is a challenging and heartbreaking time for our community. If you see activity by ICE, stay safe and know you have every right to report it.” Gilmore wants citizens who see ICE in action to “report” what they have witnessed to CORRN. On CORRN’s website, it lists phone numbers “where anyone can call to report ICE activity and receive support for someone who has been detained or deported.” CORRN’s mission is to “shape Colorado’s legislation to help defend the rights of immigrants [author’s aside: illegal aliens.] across the state.”
Sanctuary jurisdictions and immigration activist groups that protect illegal immigrants from ICE enforcement are organized efforts to subvert federal law. They and their supporters in the media advertise their objectives as empathetic, a gross misrepresentation. Instead, they’re engaged in a well-coordinated endeavor to aid and abet illegal immigrants. The text of Title 8, U.S.C. § 1324(a), “Bringing in and harboring certain aliens,” is clear: “person who -- encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law.” Offenses are punishable by jail sentences. After the Aurora fiasco, Homan repeated his vow that mayors or any other state or city official who impedes ICE operations will be “sought out and prosecuted.” Across the nation, many politicians and illegal alien apologists have violated federal immigration law. If Homan and Bondi would make good on their pledges to prosecute enablers who protect criminal aliens like Gillmore and CORRN, it would give citizens a needed confidence boost that the Justice Department is serious about its often-stated commitment to enforcing immigration law and not just against illegal immigrants but against the harborers as well.
Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org
Since when do Americans "have the right" to report ICE efforts to enforce our immigration laws? Stacie Gilmore should've been cuffed and shoved into the back seat of an ICE vehicle the moment she spouted off and endangered the lives of these law officers.