A serious schism has erupted between the federal government and local law enforcement in the City of Santa Cruz, with the Chief of Police accusing Homeland Security officials of misleading his department about recent immigration raids. The raids, Police Chief Kevin Vogel said, were supposed to target members of the deadly MS-13 gang. Instead, DHS officials “acted outside the scope of this operation” and also detained a number of individuals for immigration violations alone.
“The detention and the removal of these individuals based solely upon their immigration status flies in the face of the City Council resolution declaring Santa Cruz a place of trust and safety for all local immigrants,” Chief Vogel noted, adding that police never would have participated had they known that was the case. The Chief now believes the MS-13 operation was just a cover for a crackdown on illegal immigration.
“As a result of this betrayal of trust, we will be taking a long and hard look about whether we will cooperate with this federal agency in the future,” Chief Vogel said. “We can’t cooperate with a law enforcement agency we cannot trust.”
Those are chilling words about an agency whose mission is to protect the nation from threats within its borders, and which depends on cooperation from local jurisdictions to carry out that task. They also represent a potentially embarassing situation for an administration that presented itself as the ultimate champion of law and order.
DHS has disputed Santa Cruz PD’s version of events. Police were fully aware that immigration holds would be part of the operation, officials said.
“It’s unfortunate when politics get intertwined with a well-planned and executed public safety operation,” said Homeland Security Special Agent-in-Charge Ryan Spradlin. “When politics undermine law and order, the only winners are the criminals.”
Read more about the war of words between DHS and Santa Cruz PD here.