Oakland Mayor Schaff should reassess ordering her police officers not to cooperate with ICE officials, only this time with law enforcement officer/agent safety in mind — she probably won’t, but she should…
I worked for over two decades in a sanctuary city, which is the seat of a sanctuary county, and the largest city in what has become a de facto sanctuary state. As a result, I feel well-qualified to address this issue. Cops make a mistake whenever they say things could not get any worse, that sanity has to prevail at some point when they talk about leftist city insanity. This misstatement is true in Seattle, Washington and, most certainly, is true in Oakland, California.
Recently, when she was made aware of an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation to be conducted in the Bay Area, including in Oakland, Oakland Dictator —oh, I’m sorry, Mayor— Libby Schaff took it upon herself to issue a public notice on Twitter, warning illegal immigrants of the ICE actions about to occur in local neighborhoods.
By notifying lawbreakers, including violent gang members and other criminals, about an impending ICE operation, isn’t the mayor placing ICE agents in imminent danger? This edict (tweet) protected illegal aliens in a manner that places cops in harm’s way. Either she didn’t think about that or she did and doesn’t care. Essentially, she warned lawbreakers —apparently, unilaterally issuing mass pardons— that the cops were coming. What law-abiding person does that? None!
The mayor attempted to defend herself, saying she received legal advice and was confident she was correct in her actions because her information (about the ICE raids) didn’t come through “official channels.” She obviously knew her actions were at least dubious. I mean, who reaches out for legal advice before doing something they believe in their soul to be moral and ethical?
Mayor Schaff wrote, “As Mayor of Oakland, I am sharing this information publicly not to panic our residents but to protect them.” Schaff might not conceive that her virtuous illegal alien population could ever be a danger to law enforcement officers. But, since the illegal immigrants warned include MS-13 and other violent criminal gang members, isn’t the danger to all cops evident — or shouldn’t it be, at least, to any responsible political leader? Is she actually “protecting them” (illegal aliens) in a manner which places federal law enforcement officers at risk? It would seem so.
“My priority,” Schaff said, “is for the well-being and safety of all residents — particularly our most vulnerable — and know that Oakland is safer when we share, encourage community awareness, and care for our neighbors.” These warped priorities may make Oakland safer for people living in the U.S. illegally but not for legal U.S. citizens, including those doing their sworn duty as ICE agents.
In this Twitter missive, the rebel mayor advises illegal aliens where they can go for aid and comfort from ICE — which includes legal services. She also enumerates other local and state protections for people illegally in the U.S.A:
Oakland’s schools have procedures to protect illegal students and families (though she omits “illegal”—again, leftist conflation at its best), the mayor forbids Oakland cops from assisting with legal “ICE activities,” and, finally reminds legal U.S. business owners that, “California state law prohibits business owners from assisting ICE agents in immigration enforcement and bars federal agents from accessing employee-only areas.”
So, in the Socialist Republic of California, American citizens can get into more trouble for following federal law than foreigners can for violating federal law. Wow! I think I almost felt my head implode.
She added, “I believe it is my duty and moral obligation as Mayor to give those families fair warning [about ICE operations].”
It seems trite to say this, but, don’t we have to ask, “Who does she think she is?” Above-the-law must be one answer, as well as the final arbiter of what comprises duty and moral behavior for every American — if not all human beings.
Does Schaff truly believe her duty is to the safety of illegal aliens while, at the same time, disregarding the safety of federal law enforcement officers doing their jobs? It is astonishing that a mayor of an American city would side with lawbreakers and against law enforcers. But today, with the new Left (they used to be the far-left, but that distinction has evaporated), siding with lawbreakers and ignoring laws they don’t like happens all the time. Meet the new Democrat Party.
Does Schaff believe each of those ICE agents headed to the Bay Area should tell their bosses to pound sand and refuse to do their jobs? Wouldn’t the agents be disciplined or terminated if they did that? Does the mayor think the agents should disobey their orders to live up to what she decrees should be their “duty and moral obligation”? Because, if the mayor doesn’t think the agents should be insubordinate, then what other choice do they have but to be immoral in her eyes? I guess the real question is: Has she even thought through these consequences? Does she even care?
Any guesses on what Mayor Schaff would do if her cops disobeyed her order and assisted ICE agents? My guess includes her disciplining, even up to firing, the officers.
Once you compromise the foundation of the rule of law, which is supposed to guide our self-governing nation, won’t the entire structure eventually crumble around you? Why should an Oakland police officer now follow any law when their mayor sees it as her “duty and moral obligation” not to follow laws she doesn’t like?
I believe any order issued by a superior, including a mayor, that prevents law enforcement officers from assisting other law enforcement officers is — at any level — an obviously illegal order. In fact, you know what? I’d consider it my duty and moral obligation to disobey an order not to aid a fellow law enforcement officer or agent — at any level.
And that brings me back to what concerns me most about this issue: officer/agent safety. The mayor’s prohibition against officers assisting federal ICE agents means local law enforcement cannot do the most possible to aid in ensuring the safety of fellow law enforcement authorities who happen to work for the federal government.
Mayor Schaff, the person whose first responsibility is to protect her constituents by enforcing local, state, and federal law in Oakland, California, is renouncing her legal duty when it comes to certain laws (duly passed by the U.S. Congress) she and her fellow social justices don’t like. I’m retired, but, when I was still an active cop, not so long ago, they called warning criminals that the cops are coming in one form or another aiding and abetting and obstructing justice.
Cops at all levels are reflexively protective of each other. We don’t shut off our protection instinct just because a mayor, governor, or president doesn’t like a law duly passed by a city, state, or federal government.
As I read in her warning-tweet, according to Mayor Schaff, Oakland P.D. police officers are prohibited from “participating in ICE activities.” I’d say getting shot at or attacked by machete-wielding (MS-13’s traditional weapon of choice) gangbangers qualifies as an “activity.” Would the good mayor graciously allow her officers to assist ICE under these circumstances? Apparently, she doesn’t want them nearby.
I’d hope that Mayor Schaff would allow her cops to assist ICE agents if, while conducting their operations, they came under fire or other attack by criminal illegal aliens (although, I am sad to say, as I sit here writing this column, I’m not sure that would be the case). Could you rule out an ambush by gang members or other violent criminals when the mayor has dutifully and morally warned them you’re coming?
In my experience, when federal agents conduct raids, sometimes they have sufficient units, sometimes not. Sometimes they merely notify the local agency as a courtesy before conducting their operation, other times they request for local officers to assist. After all, if a suspect runs, it’s only logical that local officers know the territory best.
It is also common practice to at least have local officers staged in the vicinity should things go, in the cop vernacular, sideways. When I was active and I’d heard the feds were conducting an operation in my area but did not request officers, I’d proactively standby, just in case that changed. Being strategically positioned is a huge tactical advantage over having to respond from somewhere else in the city.
The mayor also tweeted, “I know that Oakland is a city of law-abiding immigrants…” [emphasis mine, since the mayor must have mistakenly dropped an important adjective]. I’ll actually agree with the mayor on her quote as written: legal immigrants are a particularly law-abiding segment of society. However, illegal immigrants are, by definition, lawbreakers, even if they’ve only committed a civil infraction — they still knowingly broke federal law.
That Mayor Schaff has unilaterally nullified federal laws against illegal immigration is astounding, not to mention frightening. One thing that is exceptional about our country is that our founders put in place the ability for the people to change laws. However, rather than change them through the legal process, the modern Left often chooses violence or defiance of law.
Oakland Mayor Schaff should reassess ordering her police officers not to cooperate with ICE officials, only this time with law enforcement officer/agent safety in mind — she probably won’t, but she should. And, perhaps even more critically, the mayor should cease putting federal agents and her local cops at-risk by warning the bad guys that the good guys are coming.
