Border Patrol Deploys 100 ‘Elite’ Tactical Agents To Sanctuary Cities As Federal Immigration Crackdown Begins

While the mainstream media throws a field day over President Trump’s twitter battle of wits with AG Barr and subsequent calls for the AG’s resignation…

BARR: He didn’t do it.
TRUMP: But I could of.
BARR: He never did it.
TRUMP: But I should of.
BARR: I wish he wouldn’t.
TRUMP: I still might.
BARR: It is not helpful.
TRUMP: It’s my right.

— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) February 14, 2020

…the Trump Administration is presiding over an unprecedented crackdown on sanctuary cities and the border in general. A few days ago, AG Barr announced a slate of federal lawsuits challenging sanctuary cities and states over their refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Now, Axios, the New York Times and others are reporting the administration’s next move: Sending cadres of specially trained border agents to a handful of sanctuary cities in preparation for a "immigrant arrest operation set to begin this weekend alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The deployment will reportedly be carried out over the next few months: From February through May, at least 100 CBP officers will be sent to a group of cities including Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit and Newark, according to the Times. Not all are considered sanctuary cities.

Some of the agents are part of an elite CBP tactical unit, according to acting ICE Director Matthew Albence, who told the NYT that the action is a response to the sanctuary cities refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and hold immigration violators for deportation.

"As we have noted for years, in jurisdictions where we are not allowed to assume custody of aliens from jails, our officers are forced to make at-large arrests of criminal aliens who have been released into communities," he said. "When sanctuary cities release these criminals back to the street, it increases the occurrence of preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims."

For those who understand the importance of enforcing immigration laws, this deployment should seem like exactly what it is: a tactical deployment to compensate for local authorities attempts to stymie federal authorities at every turn.

But we imagine open-border advocates and their network of activists will denounce the deployment as a brutal violation of human rights, that won’t do anything to make America more safe.

It’s worth noting that other recent attempts by ICE officers have been spoiled by local officials and even President Trump giving advance warnings. Since immigration authorities don’t possess the sweeping law-enforcement powers of police or the FBI, it’s more difficult for them to bring suspects into custody, and it’s a lot easier for ‘liberal do-gooders’ to help suspects avoid apprehension.

During the coming deployment, the CBP agents will be responsible for backing up the ICE agents who are authorized to carry out certain police operations within America’s borders (CBP officials typically only have the authority to detain suspects along the border).

As the NYT notes, the operation is the administration’s latest embrace of a hard-line immigration policy, and follows the firing of several officials deemed not sufficiently "tough enough" to carry it out.

Typically, ICE focuses on illegal aliens with criminal histories and violent pasts. Again, leftists try to make it seem like ICE is deporting people for routine traffic violations: Not so. The goal of the operation is to raise immigration arrests and deportations in these zones by 35%.