EDITORIAL: Metro right to tell ICE arrested immigrants

It shouldn’t be controversial for a law enforcement agency to work together with another law enforcement agency to protect the public. Yet, some people object to local police doing just that.

In late January, President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law. It requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants who have been arrested for shoplifting, larceny and other theft-related crimes.

The law is named after a Georgia nursing student. Last year, Jose Antonio Ibarra murdered Riley while she was out for a run. Ibarra is an illegal immigrant whom police had cited for shoplifting months before the killing. Had police alerted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials might have prevented the brutal attack.

The law passed with broad bipartisan support. Many Democrats in swing states voted for it because they can read the polls. This group included the five Democrats in Nevada’s congressional delegation.

Before the legislation, the Metropolitan Police Department’s policy was to inform ICE when a “foreign-born individual is arrested and charged with a violent felony, domestic violence and/or driving under the influence.” After the Laken Riley Act passed, Metro updated its policy and will now also alert ICE when an immigrant is arrested and charged with “theft, larceny, petit larceny, and/or assault of a law enforcement officer.”

Fine. There is a large reservoir of public sympathy for immigrants who come here illegally but then obey our laws and work to build a better life. There’s much less sympathy for someone who ignores the country’s immigration laws and then continues to commit crimes.

Distinguishing between the two makes eminent sense from both a moral and practical perspective. Law enforcement officials must set priorities. But many Americans are understandably outraged when an illegal immigrant is arrested and released and then breaks the law again. Such offenses might have been prevented had the suspect been detained. It’s tough to commit more crimes on American soil if you are no longer in the country.

This seems obvious, but some blue cities still refuse to cooperate with ICE. On Thursday, the Justice Department sued Chicago for impeding the work of federal immigration officials. The irony is that such obstructionism leads ICE to conduct more raids in so-called sanctuary cities. Those larger-scale actions are more likely to sweep up illegal immigrants who haven’t committed additional crimes.

Metro’s policy states that officers “will not enforce immigration violations.” That’s reasonable, because the federal government is responsible for immigration law. But when Metro already has an immigrant in custody for crimes specified in Riley law, alerting ICE is just common sense.