‘Let them deal with it’: New Wake County Sheriff vows to end cooperation with ICE

WAKE COUNTY – In 2019, Wake County residents will know exactly where the buck stops when it comes to illegal aliens being detained and released back into the community only to commit another crime – Sheriff-elect Gerald Baker.

Actually, that’s Sheriff Baker now that he was sworn in just after midnight on Monday.

Under longtime Sheriff Donnie Harrison, who lost reelection last month, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office had a policy of cooperating with federal immigration officials when it came to deporting illegal aliens found to be in the county. Baker, in an attempt to appease the social justice crowd while endangering the residents he will swear to protect, is making a big deal out of eliminating that policy.

“”We get rid of that program, and that’s a federal program. Let them deal with it, let them enforce it,” said Sheriff-elect Gerald Baker, discussing the 287 (g) agreement.

Under that policy, the Sheriff’s Office could turn over undocumented immigrants charged with crimes to federal immigration authorities. It also allows local officers to serve arrest warrants for immigration violations.

Despite his defeat, Sheriff Donnie Harrison said he still supports the program.

“I still believe in the 287 (g). Just last week we got another person that was wanted. I can’t remember what he was wanted for, but if it had not been for the 287 (g), we would not have hit him. I think it keeps everybody safe, Hispanic, Latinos and everybody else. And I’ve had a ton of people in Hispanic communities say ‘keep it, we feel safer knowing that you’ll do the right thing if somebody is in our neighborhood and not supposed to be,'” Harrison said Wednesday.”

Baker’s stance of “let them deal with it” may be aimed at the feds, but the people that will actually be ‘dealing with it’ will be the residents of Wake County who will inevitably be put in harms way due to his desire to pander to the Leftists of Wake County.

The common argument against such programs, and the one parroted by Baker, is that they dissuade those in (illegal) immigrant communities from calling authorities to report crimes because they are worried about getting deported.

That may be, but it says more about what the priorities of those individuals are than what the priorities of Wake County law enforcement leaders should be. Why should the legal residents of Wake County be subordinate to illegal aliens when it comes to safety?

The ACLU of North Carolina says suspending the program will be ‘good for public safety.’ How would turning a bling eye to illegal alien criminals in Wake County, essentially allowing them free reign with the confidence that they reside in a ‘sanctuary county’ be good for public safety?

Every month NCFIRE releases a compilation of illegal aliens that have been charged with rapes and sexual assaults of minors in North Carolina. These are the kind of people that Sheriff Baker’s policy of non-cooperation will enable.

Is that what you voted for Wake County? Really?