We have truly reached a point when we have to question if law and order still have any meaning among American politicians.
According to the Hartford Courant’s Rebecca Lurye, the mayor of Hartford, Connecticut Luke Bronin issued a letter on Monday directly to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement opposing scheduled deportation raids by the agency.
Bronin claims in his letter that:
“This kind of enforcement will not improve public safety in Hartford, and even the consideration and threat of this kind of enforcement is damaging to public trust and creates unnecessary fear within our immigrant communities.”
Perhaps Bronin should focus on the fear lawful residents live with daily in his city.
Neighborhood Scout, relying on FBI data, reports that Hartford has a crime index of 5 out of 100.
In other words, Hartford is only safer than 5% of US cities. Neighborhood Scout further reports that
“Within Connecticut, more than 100% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Hartford. In fact, after researching dangerous places to live, Neighborhood Scout found Hartford to be one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S.A.”
The site expands on these findings to report:
“For Hartford, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to Neighborhood Scout’s analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Hartford is one in 92.”
This isn’t Bronin’s first time making the undocumented immigrant community a priority in City Hall.
In 2017, the City of Hartford began issuing identification cards to undocumented immigrants.
According to Joseph Wenzel of Eyewitness News, Bronin then claimed that the issuance of the cards was “about making sure no one in our community feels as if they have to live in the shadows.”
However, it was reported by the Journal Inquirer’s Chris Powell that a private contractor was brought in to run the operation and as a result the records of the program would not be subject to the Freedom of Information Act … hence concealing the identities of the card recipients.
Wenzel also reported that Mui Mui Hin-McCormick, co-chair of Hartford’s Commission on Refugee and Immigrant Affairs, stated:
“The Hartford Commission on Refugee and Immigrant Affairs (CRIA) thanks Mayor Bronin and his office for ensuring the implementation of the municipal ID program, which many residents have been waiting for since Mayor Segarra proposed the program in 2015. The municipal ID program allows residents access to important benefits and services, provides employment, housing, and basic opportunities for residents to be productive members of the community.”
Not surprisingly, in 2017 the City of Hartford was dangerously close to filing for bankruptcy until being bailed out by the state last year from its staggering $755 million in debt.
In his letter, Bronin further makes reference to a March 2017 incident implying that ICE officers intentionally misrepresented their agency to illegal aliens in Hartford. Bronin implores ICE not to:
“misrepresent their identity again by posing as Hartford police officers, or to use any City of Hartford facilities without prior authorization.”
According to Lurye, ICE officials apprehended a woman by asking her to report to a Hartford public safety complex and were waiting for her in coats that read POLICE on the back as opposed to IMMIGRATION.
Bronin pleads to ICE in his letter.
“Even if you do not share my view that immigrants are our strength as a city and a nation, I am asking that, at the very least, you do not operate in a manner that interferes with the City of Hartford’s relationship with our residents,” he says in his letter.
The simple term “residents” is strikingly juxtaposed to Lawful Permanent Resident, the term used by Homeland Security for someone who has legally immigrated.
Bronin’s letter imploring ICE to call off the raids follows Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s implementation of a law limiting the actions of Connecticut Law Enforcement to detain individuals being sought by ICE.
Additionally, Associated Press reports that it requires that local law enforcement advise an individual that they are being sought by ICE.
Associated Press writes of the Immigration Rights Bill:
“Among other things, it prevents law enforcement from detaining someone on a civil immigration detainer unless it’s accompanied by a warrant signed by a judge; the person is guilty of a serious felony; or the person is on a terrorist watch list.”
Connecticut’s Governor Lamont and Hartford’s Mayor Bronin are clearly more focused on their undocumented communities and undermining the mission of ICE and its agents than the protection of the lawful citizens of the Constitution State.
They’re not alone.
“Not in our city.”
That’s the message from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who announced on Friday that Chicago police won’t be allowed to cooperate with ICE raids.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were expected to commence on Sunday in Chicago and nine other major cities – they were later delayed by President Trump.
“I have directed — and Superintendent Johnson has confirmed — that CPD has terminated ICE’s access to CPD’s databases related to federal immigration enforcement activities,” Lightfoot said in a statement.
Why? Because… her feelings
“I have also personally spoken with ICE leadership in Chicago and voiced my strong objection to any such raids. Further, I reiterated that CPD will not cooperate with or facilitate any ICE enforcement actions,” Lightfoot continues.
Last Monday, President Donald Trump tweeted that an operation was about to begin to deport “millions” of undocumented migrants.
And a senior immigration official said that will start this weekend with court-ordered removals of approximately 2,000 people in 10 cities.
A senior immigration official said agents at local field offices are receiving briefings and trainings.
They’re also for mixed-immigration-status families. An example would be if a parent is undocumented but has a U.S. citizen child.
Anthony Guglielmi is the chief communications officer of the Chicago police and confirmed Friday that the city wouldn’t share data with ICE agents or participate in deportation raids.
“No city data – including all CPD law enforcement data & records – will be shared with federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents. Supt. Eddie Johnson has also ordered CPD not to participate in any deportation raids,” Guglielmi wrote.
Francis Suarez is the mayor of Miami – one of the cities expecting raids on Sunday. He looks at it differently.
“We agree that criminals, like dangerous gang members who came here illegally, should be deported immediately,” Suarez said in a statement. “As Mayor, I trust that only those individuals who represent a clear and present danger to our communities will be affected by this DHS policy.”
The same goes for Houston, where Mayor Sylvester Turner said he has not been directly notified by ICE about any plans to conduct raids.
In a statement Friday, he did stress a need for “comprehensive immigration reform”.
“The city does not try to do ICE’s job, nor does it try to impede ICE. And we will continue to be a city that builds relationships, not walls,” Turner said in a statement.
Here’s how the arrests will work on Sunday.
Any families caught in it will likely be moved to ICE family residential detention centers while the agency works with consulates to obtain travel documents. Many people are likely to appeal their cases but eventually most will removed.
In cases where there are US citizen children in the family, the parents will be fitted with monitoring ankle bracelets. They’ll be given permission to stay with those children to permit time to get affairs in order while other undocumented family members remain in custody.
The official noted that no one wants a situation where a child is left alone.
Of course advocacy groups are ready to fight.
“Chicago has taken concrete steps to support our immigrant communities,” Lightfoot said in her statement. “Chicago will always be a welcoming city and a champion for the rights of our immigrant and refugee communities.”
Sadly, we’re seeing more and more criminals slipping through the cracks like in Washington this week… where a rapist who was supposed to be sent back to Mexico wasn’t handed over to ICE. Why? Because you’re not allowed to talk about immigration status.
He was released from jail just days ago in Seattle. Now police are hunting for a convicted rapist who they say immediately returned to rape the same victim.
The woman’s name is not being shared, but she sat down with a local media outlet to express her anger with how King County’s been handling the case.
It started last year, when a White Center woman who is wheelchair dependent was raped by a man she didn’t know – in front of her 2-year-old child.
Francisco Carranza- Ramirez was convicted in the rape. But he served 9 months in prison before being released last week.
Detectives say Ramirez returned and once again attacked the woman.
“I thought he was going to kill me,” she said to Q13 News. “The way he had my throat I couldn’t breathe,” she said.
She is now in protective custody while Ramirez is on the run.
“In a case like this, the system completely backfired and failed me,” she said.
She says the King County Prosecutor’s Office failed her and lead to her being raped again.
“They file the charges lower so that they can convince or incentivize to plead guilty,” she said.
She says she asked the prosecutor’s office to go after Ramirez to the full extent and they refused.
“It’s not a justice system for victims, it’s a justice system for defendants,” she said.
Now that he’s been released, she says the courts failed her again. Prosecutors asked for community custody, but King County Superior Court Judge Nicole Gaines Phelps declined that recommendation.
A spokesman said the judge cannot speak about the case outside of court, but her office did send Q13 News audio of the hearing from last week.
In it, you hear the defense telling the judge that all the logistics to get Ramirez to Mexico were in place. The defense then promised the judge that his ex-wife would be responsible for getting him on a plane that was booked for his native country.
It was Ramirez who requested the ability to leave for Mexico, and there was a question by the judge on whether or not he could leave the US for Mexico if he was in community custody.
In the end, the judge ruled to allow Ramirez to leave the U.S. on the condition he provide proof that he arrived in Mexico once he got there.
The penalty if he didn’t? Simply a bench warrant with no cash bail.
Of course Ramirez didn’t go to Mexico. Instead, the 35-year-old took off… and has no known address because he is homeless.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office says it’s not their fault. They argued they never negotiated her case with the other side and there was no plea deal.
“The State did not file a lesser charge to incentivize a plea – nor did anyone in our office tell the victim that we filed a lesser charge to incentivize a plea,” the prosecutor’s office said.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Ramirez pleaded guilty to the original charges during his arraignment and the charges were based on the evidence they had.
They said his case is “very unusual”, because they say most defendants plead not guilty.
The victim says the charges were all wrong. She argues Ramirez should have been charged with aggravated factors and not just rape in the 3rd degree, for which the maximum sentencing is 1 year behind bars.
That’s the sentence Ramirez got, but thanks to “good behavior”, he got out in 9 months.
The victim stresses that a harsher charge could have led to a longer jail time.
There are also questions as to why the judge in this case did not alert law enforcement to escort Ramirez to the border.
But of course thanks to lawmakers in the incredibly liberal state, attorneys and judges aren’t allowed to ask citizenship status. That means the question of whether an agency like ICE should have been alerted is not up to the courts.
Here’s what an ICE spokesman had to say:
“In this case, we were not alerted that this person was going to be released from local custody. It makes it really difficult for us to identify them when we are in local custody because prior to this law, and this law goes a step further, but prior to this law the state has effectively blocked us from accessing any sort of state law enforcement databases … We cannot access the detainees themselves in local custody, so we have to find sources of information that are available to the public to try and determine who is in the local jail. Often times we are only going to know after the fact,” said Acting Field Officer Director for ICE Bryan Wilcox.
State Rep. Dan Griffey is ripping mad.
“It’s pissing me off, and we should all be pissed off,” Griffey said.
Griffey is an advocate for reforming sexual assault laws in Washington, and he said this proves that more work needs to be done.
“A lot of times they plead cases out but there are certain cases that are so detrimental to society,” Griffey said.
He said he wants to sponsor a bill that could change the process when it comes to the most violent sexual assault cases.
“The legislation is getting to the point that we tell prosecutors that you can’t plead these cases down in certain circumstances,” Griffey said.
He did NOT weigh in on the migration topic, but he did say Ramirez’s case defies common sense.
As for the victim? She says she’s terrified to go outside with the predator still on the loose.
“I don’t want him to hurt anybody else,” she said.