Durbin Questions Durham County Sheriff About The Impact Of Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign On Local Law Enforcement
Durbin claims federal immigration enforcement is undermining trust in police, presses Sheriff on its local impact.
WASHINGTON – During today’s Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Clarence Birkhead, Sheriff of Durham County, North Carolina, about the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign and its impact on local law enforcement. Durbin first asked Sheriff Birkhead about how immigration enforcement can erode trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
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“The Chiefs of Police in Minneapolis and Chicago report that because of ICE activities, they’ve got two obvious problems. One, responding to reports of ICE activity and number two, the fact that the community, which is being beset by these ICE agents, is living in fear and doesn’t reach out as they once did to law enforcement officials,” Durbin said. “As a former Chief of Police in at least several jurisdictions, does that explanation ring true to you?”
Sheriff Birkhead responded, “It does, sir, unfortunately it does.”
Durbin continued, “That would seem to be the dilemma we face here. As we turn up the law enforcement in communities and don’t target specifically bad individuals, we run the risk of scaring and frightening ordinary families and businesses. As one person said to me, ‘they’re going after the gardeners, not the gangsters.’ Do you see that as a problem?”
Sheriff Birkhead agreed that he sees that as a problem. He and Durbin also agreed that federal immigration agents should be targeting those individuals who have committed violent crimes.
Durbin then noted that despite claims that Trump’s Department of Homeland Security would only go after the “worst of the worst,” less than 14 percent of the nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by federal agents during the President’s first year back in office were individuals with charges or convictions of violent criminal offenses.
“Six out of seven of those who have been detained and some deported by the ICE operation had no criminal record of any substance. Does that surprise you?” Durbin asked.
Sheriff Birkhead replied that it disappoints him. He said, “Again, I think we need to be going after those individuals who commit crimes in our cities and towns all across this country and not terrorizing communities and certainly not going after those who are trying to make a living and are not violating our laws.”
Durbin concluded, “I introduced the Dream Act over 20 years ago. I still think it’s basic justice for people brought to this country as children, toddlers, and infants because of the decision of their parents, and have a chance to become part of our country. They get up every day in that classroom with the rest of the kids and swear allegiance to a flag which doesn’t allow them to have a chance. I think there are ways that we can make America safer and humane and it doesn’t involve ICE agents shooting American citizens on the streets of Minneapolis or Chicago. I think we can do this in a thoughtful and humane way if we temper the rhetoric and get down to basics.”
Sheriff Clarence Birkhead has been the elected Sheriff of Durham County, North Carolina since 2018. He is also an adjunct instructor in the Criminal Justice Department at Durham Technical Community College. In 2014, the Durham City Council appointed Birkhead to serve as a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee. That same year, the Durham County Board of Commissioners appointed Birkhead to serve as a member of the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee.
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