Hearing Wrap Up: Further Collaboration Needed Between Federal, State, & Local Law Enforcement to Bring Down Transnational Criminal Organizations

WASHINGTON—The Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement held a hearing titled, “Enhancing Federal, State, and Local Coordination in the Fight Against Criminal Illegal Aliens.” Subcommittee members discussed the need for increased collaboration between federal, state, and local law enforcement to rein in criminal illegal aliens who are often affiliated with transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) within the United States. Members also discussed the missteps of the Biden Administration which allowed TCOs to set up operations inside the United States and the work already undertaken by the Trump Administration to disrupt these illicit enterprises.

Key Takeaways:

Policies pushed by the Biden Administration hamstrung federal immigration authorities from taking enforcement action against criminal illegal aliens. The Trump Administration has empowered federal immigration agents to enforce U.S. border laws, leading to record low illegal border crossings and increased safety in American communities.

• Joseph Humire—Executive Director at the Center for a Secure Free Society—lauded the Trump Administration for the work already underway to rein in the out-of-control border crisis terrorizing communities across the country: “The U.S. border and immigration crisis creates an unprecedented challenge for President Donald Trump and his new administration. Only one month and a half into President Trump’s term quick results are starting to show… Through executive action and prioritizing border and immigration security, President Trump is restoring order to the immigration anarchy the country endured the past four years but more needs to be done.”

TCOs are converging in the interior of the United States to destabilize communities and fuel their illicit economies. Paramount in the fight against TCOs is federal, state, and local law enforcement officials operating in lockstep to apprehend and deport criminal illegal aliens.

• Honorable Bob Gualtieri—Sheriff for Pinellas County in Florida—suggested legislative solutions that would help coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement to remove criminal illegal aliens from U.S. communities: “One of the problems across the country is that ICE detainers in and of themselves do not have any force of law and they have to be accompanied by a warrant and local law enforcement officers are not authorized to serve these types of warrants. A solution is federal legislation authorizing jails to hold criminal illegals for ICE solely on the immigration detainers.”

Member Highlights:

Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement Chairman Clay Higgins (R-La.) discussed the trend of weaponized immigration into the United States to enhance transnational criminal organizations in their overall goal of destabilizing the United States.

Rep. Higgins: “We have millions of people who have come into our country in the past four years in wave after wave. It was always known amongst law enforcement that policy caused that and policy could quickly fix it. We have proven that that is true since January 20^th. But the people that are already here, what have they done to plug into the cartel networks and criminal networks across the country.”

Mr. Humire: “What we’re seeing today is logistical networks being erected all throughout the United States as service providers. For example, if you’re an accountant for a major Mexican cartel, you are a good candidate to be an accountant for ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, which are also operating within the United States. What this does is it empowers illicit economies and allows those illicit economies to grow and overtake counties, overtake states, and eventually overtake the country. We are seeing a convergence of criminals, terrorists, all kinds of illicit actors who may not agree, have turf battles, but fundamentally want the country to become illicit.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) discussed how the failed policies of the Biden Administration allowed TCOs to gain a foothold in the United States.

Rep. Boebert: “How do you believe that the Biden Administration’s policies empowered terrorists and these terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua to commit violent crimes against American citizens, especially in places like Colorado and Aurora?”

Mr. Humire: “The Biden Administration’s immigration and border policies provided a magnet for all kinds of individuals and terrorists to basically say ‘the border is open we’re going to move in’ and that empowered enemies and adversaries of the United States, including nation-states, to steer those migrants to be able to come into our country. You mentioned the Tren de Aragua, they are uniquely a phenomena of the Biden Administration. They had not existed inside the United States prior to 2021. In fact, most of the Venezuelan migration that was leaving that country since 2014 fled south into South America. But because the Venezuelan government was able to establish both a land bridge through the Darien Gap and an air bridge into Mexico, they times it knowing that President Biden was going to open the border, and now we have Tren de Aragua in 23 states including yours.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) debunked false claims made by Democrats, including the sanctuary city mayors who testified in last week’s Full Committee hearing.

Rep. Perry: “I happened to be present at a hearing a week ago with the mayors of what people describe as sanctuary cities. I found it interesting that none of the folks who were testifying would refer to them as sanctuary cities, they referred to them as welcoming cities but that’s another story. They all claim that there was no correlation between increased crime rates and illegal immigration. Fascinating, that at the same time, they all admitted to not keeping any records on the immigration status of the people they arrested in their cities for criminal activity…what are we supposed to think, what are members of the public supposed to think when they see that claim that there’s no correlation, yet it seems pretty obvious to me that you can’t know the answer if you’re not going to ask the question.”

Hon. Gualtieri: “It’s ridiculous to think that people who are here illegally and are also committing crimes are not a horrific impact to every community in this country. And when you have these sanctuary policies that aren’t welcoming policies because even people who are here illegally who are not committing crimes, they don’t want to be victims of crime. It’s disingenuous to say that we are not going to ask, we’re not going to track these people we are arresting who are committing all these crimes to know their immigration status because those are the people that we need to get rid of.”  

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) highlighted the importance of the 287(g) program which allows state and local law enforcement agencies to partner with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws.

Rep. Biggs: “Sheriff, question for you is, will you please just briefly discuss the importance of the 287(g) program, how you’ve utilized it, and whether you think it’s working?”

Hon. Gualtieri: “Well it’s absolutely working, one of the things that is important with these immigration detainers is that what Ms. Doyle didn’t acknowledge in her response is that under policy every single time that one of these ‘voluntary detainers’ is issued it’s accompanied by an arrest warrant…so they are not voluntary in the sense that they have a warrant that is accompanying them. It is wrong to have these sanctuary city policies because it creates officer safety issues and public safety issues. These sanctuary city policies are saying ‘we’re not going to hold these criminal illegals, we’re going to put them back out onto the street, and ICE has to go back out in the community and find these criminal illegals. If they would just allow ICE to come into the jails and take the rapists, and murderers, and the robbers, and just deport them, they would keep them from going into the street.”

CLICK HERE to watch the hearing.