Your columnists are becoming weary of reading U.S. Department of Homeland Security complaints about left-adherents interfering with ICE officers as they try to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
This regular barrage of stories on Fox News, for example, has zero deterrent effect and may act to encourage others, as there is seemingly no downside to making ICE’s job harder.
Here’s the latest from, you guessed it, Fox: "ICE Colorado said on Friday their agents were trying to detain Jose Reyes Leon-Deras, a criminal alien from El Salvador who was convicted of child rape in Italy, when members of a local anti-ICE group alerted him to their presence.
“ICE said the group, Colorado Rapid Response, posted on social media that ICE was in the area, allowing him time to flee.
"During our surveillance of Leon, members of Colorado Rapid Response arrived on scene and alerted him to law enforcement’s presence, which allowed him to escape arrest," ICE Colorado said. "Groups like this interfere with ICE’s ability to keep communities safe."
Our suggestion:
How about ICE start interfering with groups like Colorado Rapid Response?
Of note: 18 U.S. Code § 111 prohibits forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with any person designated in 18 U.S. Code § 1114, which includes federal officers and employees, while they are performing their official duties."
Since there was no contact or assault on ICE officers (only an assault on the territorial integrity of Uncle Sam) the penalty for a conviction is one year in prison.
Or, if ICE lawyers don’t like that provision, how about "18 U.S. Code § 2(a) --- "Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal."
That certainly applies here and you had members on the ground helping Leon-Deras escape! Wait!
No one identified those Colorado Rapid Response members on the ground?
Then we suggest basic investigative techniques used by ICE’s colleagues at the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Pay a visit to the headquarters of Colorado Rapid Response. Serve them with an impeding indictment and then use that to leverage names of those who conspired on the ground.
Most important, use your contacts at Fox, and other media outlets, to make a bid deal of the arrests.
Announce to the nation that ICE intends to end outside interference in its work.
This organized effort to attack ICE officers and prevent them from doing their job will continue as long as there is no penalty for doing so.
The Biden administration went after grandmothers who had the misfortune to wander through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
ICE and the Department of Justice can’t find the time or manpower to go after organized groups preventing President Trump from carrying out one of his main campaign promises?
It’s time for the ICE leadership to stop whining and cowboy up. Impose penalties on those on the left for trying to prevent Americans from taking back their country.
Maybe someone could give Stephen Miller a call and ask him to look into it.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Mr. Reagan is an in-demand speaker with Premiere Speaker's Bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.