Under intense pressure from the increasingly powerful open borders movement, a major U.S. city is abruptly ending a federal law enforcement partnership responsible for dramatically reducing its record-high crime rate.
Known as Operation Community Shield, the program targets violent street gangs by sending special Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to assist local police in areas infested with gang activity. In this case, the northern California city of San Jose enrolled in the program a few months ago because a steep rise in gang violence pushed the homicide rate to the highest level in decades.
The partnership has been extremely successful in California’s third-largest city and there has been a dramatic drop in gang killings, according to a local news report that cites police data. The local-federal alliance has helped crack down on gang violence and led to the arrest of hundreds of dangerous gang members in a matter of weeks. In fact, in the first 5 ½ months of the year San Jose had 14 gang homicides but zero in the two months of Operation Community Shield. The city is the safest it has been in years.
Why in the world would the San Jose Police Department end such a triumphant program? Because the open borders movement, which opposed it from the start, fears that “law-abiding” illegal immigrants could end up getting deported. From the start police faced sharp criticism from pro immigrant “community groups” that claimed residents feared calling them to report crimes because ICE might deport them.
A local group that advocates for immigrant rights was the key force behind ending the city’s alliance with ICE. Services Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) quickly assembled a campaign to kill Operation Community Shield, reminding the police chief that he vowed never to enforce immigration laws. The group publicly demanded that ICE gang unit officers “pack their bags and leave San Jose.”
Through a spokesman, San Jose’s police chief, Chris Moore, denied he’s “crumbling to the community pressure” and insisted the federal partnership ended because crime is under control in his city.
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