Amador County Sheriff Will Work with ICE Over Criminal Illegal Aliens

Amador County Sheriff Gary Redman is the first sheriff in California to publicly state that he will cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement when dealing with criminal illegal aliens.

“I’m the first Sheriff to come out strong on a common sense public safety approach,” Sheriff Redman told the Globe in an interview Thursday. He said his policy isn’t an anti-immigration stance but rather designed as a public safety measure, to protect members of the community from violent offenders.

Sheriff Redman made the announcement last week on Facebook in a letter that he will work with ICE. Redman told the Globe that so many Amador County residents sent him messages asking his position on criminal illegal aliens that he make the public announcement “addressing illegal immigrants who pose a public safety risk to the community.”

Redman told the Globe that because of Senate Bill 54, law enforcement’s hands are tied on how they address illegal aliens who commit crimes, but there are legal ways to make sure that the public is protected.

California still is home to the largest illegal-alien population in the country, initially with 35 sanctuary cities, morphing into full state sanctuary, courtesy of California’s Democrat lawmakers.

So how did California become a sanctuary state?

In 2017, opportunistic California Democrats authored bills to counter the immigration executive orders to protect Americans, of then-President Donald J. Trump – in violation of Trump’s constitutional authority.

Then-Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles), the author of Senate Bill 54, claimed that “immigrants are valuable and essential members of the California community” and all attempts to enforce immigration laws create fear of the police among “immigrant community members” who fear “approaching police when they are victims of, and witnesses to, crimes.” De León deliberately conflated “immigrants” and “criminal illegal aliens.”

SB 54 passed the California Legislature entirely along party lines, Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law, and turned California into a sanctuary state.

SB 54 limits state and local law enforcement agencies’ involvement in immigration enforcement, and specifically prohibits almost all cooperation and communication with federal immigration authorities. It also ensures that eligible individuals are able to seek services from and engage with state agencies without regard to their immigration status.

The goal of Democrats and Sen. de León was to block state and local resources from being used for illegal alien/immigration enforcement.

Unfortunately, California has notoriously been pushing criminal’s rights over victims and their families, Sheriff Redman said.

Redman told the Globe that if he has an illegal alien in his jail who is going to be released, “I am going to work with ICE.”

ICE will pick up the criminal illegal alien and deport him back to his country of origin.

Some in the media have accused Sheriff Redman of “breaking the state’s sanctuary law,” but Sheriff Redman disputes that characterization.

“A California sheriff is planning to break the state’s sanctuary law – here’s how:” the CalMatters “Justice Reporter” titled an article.

Sheriff Redman told the Globe that he’s taking this public safety stance because it is his duty is to protect the people. He said for any criminal arrested for any violent offenses or serious public safety violations with clear evidence, and is about to be released, “that’s when I will cooperate with ICE.”

Sanctuary state status and SB 54 muddies the water, Redman said. “Before SB 54 we could ask a criminal illegal alien in jail where they were from.” SB 54 prohibits this.

Sheriff Redman explained his public safety concerns because of the cartel activity in rural counties, and Amador County. “They seek out rural counties and resources on public lands,” he said.

Sheriff Redman, who has been with the Amador County Sheriff’s Office for 27 years, worked for 16 years on the Amador County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team, 8 of those as team leader. The cartels have illegal grows, and Redman says they [cartels] are all armed. “We’ve been shot at many times.”

We discussed the issue of federal immigration law versus California’s attempts to thwart it. Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s official Border Czar, said that drug cartels would be designated as terrorist organizations, which expands the government’s ability to crack down on them.

According to Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, “While there are many areas over which the states and the federal government share responsibility, immigration is not one of them.”

“Sanctuary cities are trying to prevent federal officials from finding out about criminal alien murderers, rapists, and other violent criminals that these cities would apparently rather release than have picked up and deported so they cannot further victimize Americans.”

“It all comes down to public safety,” said Sheriff Redman, whose primary focus is providing that public safety to the people of Amador County.