“We cannot work with those we cannot trust,” says chief.
Furious California police officials have threatened to end cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after they accused federal agents of using a gang investigation as cover to ferret out undocumented immigrants.
“I want to underscore that we would never have participated or cooperated in this operation if we had known that it included immigration enforcement,” said Kevin Vogel, police chief of Santa Cruz, which is one of a number of California sanctuary cities for immigrants.
“As a result of this betrayal of trust, we will be taking a long and hard look about whether we will cooperate with this federal agency in the future. We can’t cooperate with a law enforcement agency we cannot trust,” he said at a news conference earlier this week.
The now-controversial joint raids were launched Feb. 13 against local gang MS-13, which includes members from El Salvador. Police had been investigating the gang for years. Vogel hailed the arrests in raids in Santa Cruz, Daly City and Watsonville of ten individuals suspected of extortion, drug trafficking and murder.
“I want to very clear: The only reason members of the Santa Cruz police participated in this operation was to arrest violent gang members,” said Vogel, who added that officials were “assured” that the operation did not have an added “immigration component to it.”
But police discovered shortly afterward that DHS officials, “unbeknownst to us had acted outside of the scope of this operation and had detained and removed a number of individuals from various locations based upon their immigration status,” who “may or may not have been related” in any way to the criminal investigation, Vogel said. Several people were secretly removed from sites without police on the scene and sent to other counties for processing at DHS sites, said Vogel, ABC-7 TV reported.
“The detention and the removal of these individuals based solely upon their immigration status flies in the face of the City Council resolution declaring Santa Cruz a place of trust and safety for all local immigrants,” Vogel said at the press conference. “The community has an absolute right to be angry about this.”
More: Santa Cruz Police: Homeland Security Lied, Used Gang Probe As Cover For Immigrant Sweep
Shame on DHS. No wonder the police and community are angry about this.
Furious California police officials have threatened to end cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after they accused federal agents of using a gang investigation as cover to ferret out undocumented immigrants.
“I want to underscore that we would never have participated or cooperated in this operation if we had known that it included immigration enforcement,” said Kevin Vogel, police chief of Santa Cruz, which is one of a number of California sanctuary cities for immigrants.
“As a result of this betrayal of trust, we will be taking a long and hard look about whether we will cooperate with this federal agency in the future. We can’t cooperate with a law enforcement agency we cannot trust,” he said at a news conference earlier this week.
The now-controversial joint raids were launched Feb. 13 against local gang MS-13, which includes members from El Salvador. Police had been investigating the gang for years. Vogel hailed the arrests in raids in Santa Cruz, Daly City and Watsonville of ten individuals suspected of extortion, drug trafficking and murder.
“I want to very clear: The only reason members of the Santa Cruz police participated in this operation was to arrest violent gang members,” said Vogel, who added that officials were “assured” that the operation did not have an added “immigration component to it.”
But police discovered shortly afterward that DHS officials, “unbeknownst to us had acted outside of the scope of this operation and had detained and removed a number of individuals from various locations based upon their immigration status,” who “may or may not have been related” in any way to the criminal investigation, Vogel said. Several people were secretly removed from sites without police on the scene and sent to other counties for processing at DHS sites, said Vogel, ABC-7 TV reported.
“The detention and the removal of these individuals based solely upon their immigration status flies in the face of the City Council resolution declaring Santa Cruz a place of trust and safety for all local immigrants,” Vogel said at the press conference. “The community has an absolute right to be angry about this.”
More: Santa Cruz Police: Homeland Security Lied, Used Gang Probe As Cover For Immigrant Sweep
Shame on DHS. No wonder the police and community are angry about this.
