INTERVIEW: Sheriffs Awarded for Enforcing Federal Immigration Laws, Resisting Leftist Pressure Groups

In an exclusive interview, Lt. Col. Allen West tells Restoration News that elected sheriffs who partner with federal agents to enforce immigration laws deserve recognition for upholding their oath to the U.S. Constitution while resisting leftist ideologues.  Col. West now serves as the executive director of American Constitutional Rights Union (ACRU), which works as a counterbalance to the extreme leftist ACLU. 

At the same time, West said, local officials who do not cooperate with deportation efforts at the expense of public safety deserve to be called out for violating their oaths and elevating the interests of illegal aliens above those of law-abiding legal citizens.

The Importance of Aiding ICE

The ACRU, established in 1999 by Reagan-era officials as a "counterweight" to anti-constitutional pressure groups, does both with the "Defender Initiative," which provides awards to oath keepers in local law enforcement while highlighting the perfidy of "oath breakers" who prioritize political activism over their sworn responsibilities. 

The award focuses attention on the utility and importance of the 287(g) program that authorizes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the ability to delegate specified immigration officer functions to state and local officials under the agency's direction and oversight. The program was first implemented in the Clinton administration in 1996 and has become a critical component of President Donald Trump's efforts to enact stricter immigration enforcement measures. 

"Sheriffs took an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution," West said. "That's why they were elected. They did not take an oath to a political party or to an ideology that would seek to undermine the sovereignty of our constitutional republic." By participating in the 287g program, West explained, sheriffs are protecting America's national sovereignty, which is very much in line with that they are prescribed to do in Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution,. 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) doesn't see it that way. 

The far-left team of progressive attorneys has sent threatening letters to sheriffs aimed at discouraging them from participating in the 287(g) program and raising the specter of potential litigation if they do. In January, for instance, the ACLU joined with other open-borders advocacy groups, to a send a letter to Ohio's 88 county sheriffs describing Trump's immigration policies as "inhumane" while also making the case that they could be held liable for "Fourth Amendment violations" by participating in the 287g program. 

Restoration News obtained a copy of a letter the ACLU sent to Sheriff Chris Kleinberg in Dakota County, Nebraska where the ACLU calls on the sheriff to withdraw his application to participate in the 287g program. 

The ACRU has responded with its own effort to ensure sheriffs that they are on firm legal footing by cooperating with ICE officials and that they deserve credit for protecting citizens from dangerous criminals who have entered the country illegally. 

R vs L: The ACRU Fights Back

"In many ways we were founded as a counterweight to the ACLU," Lorie Roman, chairman and CEO of the ACRU and the ACRU Action Fund, said in an interview. "We are telling these sheriffs that participation in the 287g program is not unconstitutional because it is established law, and these sheriffs are just availing themselves of a legal avenue to cooperate with ICE in order to protect their citizens."

Initially, the ACRU was inclined to send letters of support to sheriffs, but decided that was not sufficient since many sheriffs are willingly going against the grain of groups like the ACLU and other local officials who are not willing to cooperate with ICE.

"We decided we really need to award the sheriffs who are doing everything they can in their environment to protect their citizens," Roman said. "Many of them are acting quite boldly."

The first "Defender Award" was delivered in person on April 3 to Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office during a ceremony in Naples, Florida.  West and Roman joined with Department of Homeland Security Senior Counselor Keith Pearson to present the award to Rambosk. A list of all the sheriffs who have received the award so far is available here. ACRU has also has a link available for users to submit information about sheriffs who are not keeping their oaths. 

Not Just a Blue State Problem

The problem citizens have with sheriffs and other local officials who do not want to cooperate with ICE is not just a simple matter of red versus blue states, West explained. That's because the problem also exists in red states where there is left-leaning government. West points to Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown as an example of a local law enforcement official who appears unwilling to partner with ICE in a red state like Texas. Dallas interim Police Chief Michael Igo, who recently announced he is retiring, has also made comments indicating he is unwilling to assist federal agents in their enforcement of immigration laws. 

The motivations of open border advocates who continue to jeopardize public safety can be best understood, West said, by revisiting remarks President Barack Obama made in 2008 stating that he was devoted to "fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”

West sees a "formula and a recipe" at work. 

"When you look at the results of this last 2024 election, Kamala Harris won all the states that did not have voter ID requirements," he said. "This is what they are trying to do, they are trying to reshape the United States of America, so they are perpetually in control of this nation."

Leftists are opposed to the 287g program, West continued, because it undermines their goal of obtaining political power. 

"They want to count people who are here illegally and who are not entitled to representation in the halls of Congress in Washington D.C., or locally in state capitals, for the census," West said. "This is all about the reapportionment of representative districts. This is a big fight."

Only Illegal Aliens have Second Amendment Rights?

The hypocrisy of left-leaning government officials posturing in favor of dangerous, criminal illegal aliens is difficult to overstate, West observed. He is particularly concerned single, military aged males who have entered the U.S. in the past few years as part of the widely cited 600,000 figure of illegal who have been released into the country since March of 2021. West cites the example of well-armed Venezuelan gangs that have taken over apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado. 

"How does a person illegally in this country legally attain firearms?" West asked. "But yet the left is always worried about legal law-abiding citizens [having firearms] and the left is constantly working to "undermine our constitutional [Second Amendment] rights," he said. 

Putting the statistics in military terms, West said, the 600,000 figure is larger than the active strength of the U.S. Army, which he estimates to be about 425,000, and far larger than the strength of the U.S. Marine Corps, which West puts at about 183,000.

With these facts in mind, it's difficult to believe there are some law enforcement officials who refuse to work with ICE, West laments. 

"This is an upside-down world in which we live," he said. 

While the use of "sanctuary laws" can complicate matters for sheriffs who are willing and able to participate in 287g, West said the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution should carry the day and invalidate such laws. 

"There's no such thing as a sanctuary," West said. "All it means is you are harboring criminals."

Roman also made the point that it's critically important for law enforcement agencies to collect full information on all illegal alien encounters even when those encounters to do not result in ICE detention. She is pursuing this matter with the new Florida Immigration Board led by Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

ACRU is continuing its search for examples of sheriffs across the country, including those in blue states, who are working tenaciously to assist ICE in the arrest, detention, and deportation of dangerous, criminal illegal aliens.