Idaho Sheriff Warns: No Illegal Alien Police Officers in Idaho
The news broke across the country last week that two significant states, California and Illinois, would now allow illegal aliens or undocumented immigrants to become police officers. The idea of this proposal sounds preposterous, considering how you can hire folks who broke the law by entering the country illegally to enforce laws regulating legal American citizens.
Fox News reported that Illinois will not require law enforcement officers to be US citizens. However, federal law prohibits noncitizens from becoming police officers.
From Fox News:
Illinois Rep. Mary Miller, a Republican, voiced her outrage over the new law on Twitter over the weekend, writing that "no sane state would allow foreign nationals to arrest their citizens."
"At 5 p.m. yesterday, when no one was paying attention, Pritzker signed a bill to allow illegal immigrants to become police officers, giving noncitizens the power to arrest citizens in our state," she tweeted. "No sane state would allow foreign nationals to arrest their citizens; this is madness!"
DACA kids will now be eligible to work in law enforcement in Illinois.
CBS 8 reported that now California will waive the requirements of being a citizen. The reason being given for this move is the continued erroision of law enforcment officers in California. As we've seen locally, California law enforcment officers are moving to Idaho and other police friendly states.
From CBS 8:
Now, that's no longer the case. Anyone who is legally authorized to work in the state of California, under federal law, with the proper green card or visa, is eligible to become a police officer.
Could we see a move to allow noncitizens to become police officers in Idaho? One sheriff is so concerned about this issue that he has written a letter to Idaho's Attorney General Raul Labrador.
Owyhee County Sheriff Larry Kendrick requested that the attorney general not recognize police officers from California or Illinois. He referenced Idaho Code concerning who is and who is not allowed to be a police officer in Idaho.
Per Idaho code 19-5109(f), illegal aliens, criminals, and noncitizens cannot be peace officers in the State of Idaho. Given the blurred line between law enforcer and law breaker in the states of California and Illinois, the Owyhee County Sheriff's Office cannot, in good faith, recognize the peace officer status of anyone from those states.
You can read the entire letter here.