Fresno Sheriff Margaret Mims is refusing to aid Trump in his immigration ban and she isn’t alone. Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke says the policy would be a detriment to his department.
“It would be like them coming to me and saying, ‘Sheriff, now we want you guys to take all the cats and rescue every cat out of a tree,'” he said. “We don’t have the resources to continue to do those things. We’re barely squeaking by as it is and most of my sheriff brethren are too.”
Sheriff Mims says she will aid ICE but will not target immigrants.
“I think just letting loose our personnel to do immigration enforcement is counterproductive,” Mims said. “Now I will help ICE anyway I can for them to do their jobs but the best place to start is in our jails.”
Neither sheriff believe using their deputies to aid in immigration enforcement and both believe participating will be counterproductive to their ability to solve actual crimes with their limited resources.
“It would be like them coming to me and saying, ‘Sheriff, now we want you guys to take all the cats and rescue every cat out of a tree,'” he said. “We don’t have the resources to continue to do those things. We’re barely squeaking by as it is and most of my sheriff brethren are too.”
Mims echoes his sentiment and believes maintaining local control over the sheriff’s office is extremely important.
“We will not be involved,” Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said. “The federal government cannot force, especially sheriffs, to take federal action, and I think that’s really important to have that local control.”
