The anti-migrant campaign that is more likely to undermine safety than to enhance it
Author: Eric Brody
Two-time candidate for Colorado State Legislature from House District 39 in Douglas County
Today (January 28, 2025) I attended a meeting of the Douglas County, Colorado Board of County Commissioners with the intention of offering citizen comment. Time having run out before my turn to speak, I accepted the chair’s invitation to email my comments to the Board. I am sharing them here for public consideration.
First a little background.
The commissioners – Abe Laydon, George Teal, and Kevin Van Winkle – have made clear their support for the 47th president’s immigration policies. They had certified this in a resolution they unanimously adopted on January 14, days before the inauguration. As CBS Colorado reported on January 23, they expressed their position additionally during a visit that they along with Sheriff Darren Weekly took to Washington, coincident with the inauguration.
In my comments I brought additional information to bear.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Eric Brody and I reside in Castle Pines.
I would like to share a few data points and then pose a question.
From a December 19 news article:
Biden carried out the highest level of deportations since 2014, new report says
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 271,484 immigrants last fiscal year, marking the highest level of deportations since 2014, according to a newly released annual report.
President-elect Donald Trump plans to make mass deportation a cornerstone of his incoming administration, rebuking President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration policy.
But the latest ICE data reveals that the Biden administration carried out a significant number of removals last fiscal year, exceeding the previous two years of Biden’s presidency, and largely focused on public safety and national security threats.
Many of the deportations were of people who crossed the US-Mexico border illegally, reflecting the challenge Biden administration officials grappled with along the southern border amid record migration across the globe. ICE removed people to nearly 200 different countries, the report shows. It covers October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.
“Throughout the year, the agency was called on to do more without commensurate funding, working within the confines of strained resources and competing priorities while steadfastly supporting the Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies in their efforts to secure the border,” acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner said in the report.
From a January 21 Memorandum from the Acting Deputy Attorney General on the subject “Interim Policy Changes Regarding Charging, Sentencing, and Immigration Enforcement.”
Note that OCDETF means Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and AUSA means Assistant U.S. Attorney.
The regional OCDETF Strike Forces shall prioritize the investigation and prosecution of immigration offenses, including by requiring OCDETF-funded AUSAs to devote significant time and attention to the investigation and prosecution of these crimes.
From a January 27 report on the Fox News website:
Trump officials give ICE goal on number of arrests per day: The Trump administration reportedly tells ICE to aim for between 1,200-1,500 arrests per day
President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase the number of arrests per day from a few hundred to between at least 1,200 to 1,500 people, according to a new report on Monday.
Citing four sources who spoke on condition of anonymity about a purported internal call with ICE officials on Saturday, The Washington Post first reported about the new objective, categorizing the 1,200 to 1,500 daily targets as “quotas.”
During the call, each ICE field office was told to aim for 75 arrests per day and that management would be held responsible if the quotas were not reached, they said. The Post also reported that current and former ICE officials said that they are concerned that the quotas make it more likely that agents will “engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations.”
From an interview yesterday with a former senior ICE official
[I]t’s not just ICE having to change who it goes after. All of these other federal law enforcement agencies have now been given immigration enforcement powers and are being told to do immigration enforcement. So that means they’re going to be diverted from the job that they’re responsible for. For example, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, or ICE HSI, the other operational part of ICE, has lots of other very important national security and criminal responsibilities. They fight transnational criminal organizations. They do fentanyl work. They find and stop kiddie porn. Do we want them to stop doing that work?
My question for you, our Douglas County Commissioners, and also for Sheriff Weekly:
Just how determined are you to divert scarce resources from the priority of keeping our community safe so as to instead advance a highly politicized anti-migrant agenda?
Thank you.
My prepared remarks for the County Commissioners concluded above.
I’ll take this opportunity after the fact to expand on the Acting Deputy Attorney General’s January 21 Memorandum, from which I quoted a single sentence in my remarks.
The document presents its substantive content under two headings:
I Core Principle: Pursuing The Most Serious, Readily Provable Offense
II Faithful Execution of the Immigration Laws
Under heading I, the document defines the “core principle” as follows (emphasis added):
[I]n the absence of unusual facts, prosecutorial discretion at the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices is bounded by the core principle that prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offenses. The most serious offenses are those punishable by death where applicable, and offenses with the most significant mandatory minimum sentences (including under the Armed Career Criminal Act and 21 U.S.C. § 851) and the most substantial recommendation under the Sentencing Guidelines.
Note the three categories of “most serious”:
- punishable by death
- most significant mandatory minimum sentences
- most substantial Sentencing Guidelines recommendation
The introductory paragraph of the section under heading II – “Faithful Execution of the Immigration Laws” – explains (emphasis added) the intention to “take all steps necessary to protect the public and secure the American border by removing illegal aliens from the Country and prosecuting illegal aliens for crimes committed within U.S. jurisdiction.” The purpose of the emphasis is to make clear that in its own justification for the policy, the document makes clear that the target is aliens, not citizens.
Surprisingly, as if to reassuringly convey the intention to focus on dangerous violators rather than employ a dragnet, this section again refers to the core principle (emphasis added).
Consistent with the core principle of pursuing the most serious, readily provable offense, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the other components shall pursue charges relating to criminal immigration-related violations when such violations are presented by federal, state, or local law enforcement or the Intelligence Community. See, e.g. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324(c), 1252c (authorizing certain immigration-related arrests by State and local law enforcement officials). This includes, where supported by evidence, prosecutions for violations of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1304, 1306, 1324-1328, 1373 and 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3).
Below I have annotated the sections of the U.S. Code, the violation of which, according to the Memorandum, are “the most serious” offenses that an illegal alien can commit and are therefore good grounds for removal and prosecution. The cited sections are a hodgepodge of misdemeanor crimes, crimes that a civilian and not an alien might commit, and administrative text that defines neither an offense nor a penalty. This is a rather flimsy pretext for the authorities and quotas that the 47th president and his Department of Justice claim and impose.
The exercise itself is a fraud. While the consequences are likely to be unpleasant at best for the larger community, they are likely to be quite painful for the targets of this campaign.
PENALTY:
Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
8 U.S.C. § 1306 – U.S. Code – Unannotated Title 8. Aliens and Nationality § 1306. Penalties
PENALTY:
(a)Willful failure to register
Any alien required to apply for registration and to be fingerprinted in the United States who willfully fails or refuses to make such application or to be fingerprinted, and any parent or legal guardian required to apply for the registration of any alien who willfully fails or refuses to file application for the registration of such alien shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to exceed $1,000 or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
(b)Failure to notify change of address
Any alien or any parent or legal guardian in the United States of any alien who fails to give written notice to the Attorney General, as required by section 1305 of this title, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to exceed $200 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.Irrespective of whether an alien is convicted and punished as herein provided, any alien who fails to give written notice to the Attorney General, as required by section 1305 of this title, shall be taken into custody and removed in the manner provided by part IV of this subchapter, unless such alien establishes to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that such failure was reasonably excusable or was not willful.
(c) Fraudulent statements
Any alien or any parent or legal guardian of any alien, who files an application for registration containing statements known by him to be false, or who procures or attempts to procure registration of himself or another person through fraud, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to exceed $1,000, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both; and any alien so convicted shall, upon the warrant of the Attorney General, be taken into custody and be removed in the manner provided in part IV of this subchapter.
(d) Counterfeiting
Any person who with unlawful intent photographs, prints, or in any other manner makes, or executes, any engraving, photograph, print, or impression in the likeness of any certificate of alien registration or an alien registration receipt card or any colorable imitation thereof, except when and as authorized under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Attorney General, shall upon conviction be fined not to exceed $5,000 or be imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
PENALTY [Note that this lengthy section targets citizens – not aliens – who engage in the crimes of “bringing in and harboring certain aliens.” I have not copied out this content.]
PENALTY [Note that this lengthy section targets citizens – not aliens – who engage in crimes related to the unlawful employment of aliens.” I have not copied out this content.]
PENALTY [Note that this lengthy section targets citizens – not aliens – who engage in crimes related to “unfair immigration-related employment practices” I have not copied out this content.]
PENALTY:
(3)Cease and desist order with civil money penalty
With respect to a violation of subsection (a), the order under this subsection shall require the person or entity to cease and desist from such violations and to pay a civil penalty in an amount of—
(A) not less than $250 and not more than $2,000 for each document that is the subject of a violation under subsection (a), or
(B) in the case of a person or entity previously subject to an order under this paragraph, not less than $2,000 and not more than $5,000 for each document that is the subject of a violation under subsection (a).
[…]
(e) Criminal penalties for failure to disclose role as document preparer
(1) Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the Service, knowingly and willfully fails to disclose, conceals, or covers up the fact that they have, on behalf of any person and for a fee or other remuneration, prepared or assisted in preparing an application which was falsely made (as defined in subsection (f)) for immigration benefits, shall be fined in accordance with Title 18, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both, and prohibited from preparing or assisting in preparing, whether or not for a fee or other remuneration, any other such application.
(2) Whoever, having been convicted of a violation of paragraph (1), knowingly and willfully prepares or assists in preparing an application for immigration benefits pursuant to this chapter, or the regulations promulgated thereunder, whether or not for a fee or other remuneration and regardless of whether in any matter within the jurisdiction of the Service, shall be fined in accordance with Title 18, imprisoned for not more than 15 years, or both, and prohibited from preparing or assisting in preparing any other such application.
PENALTY:
shall pay a civil penalty of not more than $500 to the Commissioner for each day the alien is in violation of this section.
PENALTY:
(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts
Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under Title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under Title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
(b)Improper time or place; civil penalties
Any alien who is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty of—
(1) at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry (or attempted entry); or
(2) twice the amount specified in paragraph (1) in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection.
Civil penalties under this subsection are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any criminal or other civil penalties that may be imposed.
(c)Marriage fraud
Any individual who knowingly enters into a marriage for the purpose of evading any provision of the immigration laws shall be imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both.
(d)Immigration-related entrepreneurship fraud
Any individual who knowingly establishes a commercial enterprise for the purpose of evading any provision of the immigration laws shall be imprisoned for not more than 5 years, fined in accordance with Title 18, or both.
PENALTY:
(a) In general
Subject to subsection (b), any alien who–
(1) has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or has departed the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding, and thereafter
(2) enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States, unless (A) prior to his reembarkation at a place outside the United States or his application for admission from foreign contiguous territory, the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien’s reapplying for admission; or (B) with respect to an alien previously denied admission and removed, unless such alien shall establish that he was not required to obtain such advance consent under this chapter or any prior Act,
shall be fined under Title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
(b)Criminal penalties for reentry of certain removed aliens
Notwithstanding subsection (a), in the case of any alien described in such subsection–
(1) whose removal was subsequent to a conviction for commission of three or more misdemeanors involving drugs, crimes against the person, or both, or a felony (other than an aggravated felony), such alien shall be fined under Title 18, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both;
(2) whose removal was subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony, such alien shall be fined under such title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both;
(3) who has been excluded from the United States pursuant to section 1225(c) of this title because the alien was excludable under section 1182(a)(3)(B) of this title or who has been removed from the United States pursuant to the provisions of subchapter V, and who thereafter, without the permission of the Attorney General, enters the United States, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under Title 18 and imprisoned for a period of 10 years, which sentence shall not run concurrently with any other sentence. 1 or
(4) who was removed from the United States pursuant to section 1231(a)(4)(B) of this title who thereafter, without the permission of the Attorney General, enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States (unless the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien’s reentry) shall be fined under Title 18, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
For the purposes of this subsection, the term “removal” includes any agreement in which an alien stipulates to removal during (or not during) a criminal trial under either Federal or State law.
(c) Reentry of alien deported prior to completion of term of imprisonment
Any alien deported pursuant to section 1252(h)(2) 2 of this title who enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States (unless the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien’s reentry) shall be incarcerated for the remainder of the sentence of imprisonment which was pending at the time of deportation without any reduction for parole or supervised release. Such alien shall be subject to such other penalties relating to the reentry of deported aliens as may be available under this section or any other provision of law.
PENALTY:
Any person who knowingly aids or assists any alien inadmissible under section 1182(a)(2) (insofar as an alien inadmissible under such section has been convicted of an aggravated felony) or 1182(a)(3) (other than subparagraph (E) thereof) of this title to enter the United States, or who connives or conspires with any person or persons to allow, procure, or permit any such alien to enter the United States, shall be fined under Title 18, or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
The importation into the United States of any alien for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is forbidden. Whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import into the United States any alien for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, or shall hold or attempt to hold any alien for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or shall keep, maintain, control, support, employ, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, any alien, in pursuance of such illegal importation, shall be fined under Title 18, or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. The trial and punishment of offenses under this section may be in any district to or into which such alien is brought in pursuance of importation by the person or persons accused, or in any district in which a violation of any of the provisions of this section occurs. In all prosecutions under this section, the testimony of a husband or wife shall be admissible and competent evidence against each other.
PENALTY [Note: this is an administrative section and contains information neither about violations nor penalties.]
PENALTY [Note that this section does not indicate penalties for violations.]:
(g) It shall be unlawful for any person–
(1) who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
(2) who is a fugitive from justice;
(3) who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802));
(4) who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution;
(5) who, being an alien–
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
(B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(26)));
[…]
to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
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