The Federal Laws Against Interfering with ICE Operations

Did you know that sanctuary policies are always illegal? Or that trying to protect illegal aliens carries a penalty of jail time? 

Unfortunately, most Americans either don’t know about such provisions of immigration law—or deliberately violate them. Amidst all the furor over the Trump administration’s much-needed crackdown on illegal immigration—which has brought up to 30 million foreigners into our country illicitly to take our jobs, our resources, our property, and sometimes even our lives—we rarely hear about the U.S. Code provisions against harboring illegals and interfering with arrests. 

And we cannot afford to overlook them—attacks on ICE officers have spiked 1,153% this year. Death threats are up 8,000%. National Counterterrorism Center’s (NCTC) Director Joe Kent just revealed at a congressional hearing that they have identified around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists allowed into America by the Biden administration. One of the newest federal arrests is of a Honduran illegal alien MS-13 gang member wanted for quadruple homicide. A deadly crash in Washington state marks the third such murderous crash due to illegal alien truck drivers in the last few months. Two California children were recently run over by illegals. A National Guardsman was shot dead in D.C. by an Afghan brought in through a spurious and corrupt Biden-era program. 

We cannot continue to sacrifice Americans so law-breaking Democrats can have cheaper labor and illicit votes. In blue towns and cities, leftist rioters assault ICE agents arresting dangerous criminals, while Democrat politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA), Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, Gov. JB Pritzker (IL), Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC), New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, the majority of the Portland and Seattle city councilors, and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles egg them on and side with illegals.

The Federal Laws that Grant ICE Authority

To state the most obvious fact, any illegal alien can be arrested and deported from the United States purely for being an illegal alien. No foreigner can rightfully under the Constitution demand trial or “due process” after entering our country unlawfully; indeed, Constitutional rights are strictly for citizens. Federal officers under 8 U.S. Code § 1357 have the power to make warrantless interrogations and arrests of illegal aliens. All of this means that any official or judge claiming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Border Patrol cannot interrogate, arrest, or deport any illegal alien, is lying.

But the U.S. Code doesn’t just describe the powers of federal immigration officers. It also provides for heavy penalties for those who try to thwart these granted powers in action. Let’s look at multiple legal provisions in detail—both those that add extra penalties for illegal aliens who resist arrest or otherwise exacerbate their crime of illegal entry, and those laws that apply to citizens.

8 U.S. Code § 1324 states in part:

“Any person who—

(i)knowing that a person is an alien, brings to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry…

(ii)knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States…

(iii)…conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, …

(iv)encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, …

shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B).”

This includes prison terms from between five years to life sentence. Note that anyone who harbors or shields illegal aliens, or even “attempts to” harbor and shield them, can face charges under this law. That means, in truth, that every single governor, mayor, sheriff, or other official enforcing sanctuary policies is in violation of the law. Unfortunately, America has become an oligarchy where having a political title exempts you from going to prison for your felonious activities, so Newsom, Bass, Grijalva, Pritzker and co. will not be going to jail. But, in fact, they could be charged under the above law, as both Donald Trump and his border czar Tom Homan have acknowledged before. That is especially true for politicians like Newsom and Pritzker who have refused to honor ICE detainers for literal murderers.

Besides officials who enforce sanctuary policies, any individuals who try to shield illegals from detection are breaking the law, such as the grocery store owners in Charlotte who offered free delivery for illegals to avoid ICE, or the Wisconsin judge who hid an illegal alien in her building from authorities.

Next, let’s read part of 18 U.S. Code § 111:

“Whoever—

(1)forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with any person designated in section 1114 of this title while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties; or

(2)forcibly assaults or intimidates any person who formerly served as a person designated in section 1114 on account of the performance of official duties during such person’s term of service,

shall, where the acts in violation of this section constitute only simple assault, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year… Whoever, in the commission of any acts described in subsection (a), uses a deadly or dangerous weapon (including a weapon intended to cause death or danger but that fails to do so by reason of a defective component) or inflicts bodily injury, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”

That’s a hefty prison sentence. And any leftist protestor who assaults ICE and Border Patrol, or  who aggressively attempts to hold up an arrest, is in violation of this law, and could be charged accordingly. 

Examples include:

• During a raid on a Tucson, Arizona, restaurant (many businesses hire illegals because they want to pay lower wages), a mob of protestors locked some officers in, while other crazies slashed the tires on federal vehicles and still others injured two officers. Rep. Adelita Grijalva was caught on video screaming in ICE officers’ faces, after which she lied about what happened. All of the members of the mob could arguably be charged under the above U.S. Code provision, Grijalva included.
• A suspected Tren de Aragua gang member previously released and granted protected status by the Biden administration rammed an ICE officer’s vehicle into a tree before fleeing on foot and barricading himself in a stranger’s apartment, at which time a mob of leftists gathered to hurl bottles and rocks at ICE. Both the illegal alien and the leftist rioters were in violation of the law. 
• Last month, a leftist protestor in Illinois performed a vehicular attack on Border Patrol before violently assaulting an officer’s genitals. The protestor was in fact arrested, and rightly so.

More Enforcement Could Be Coming

Let's look a little more briefly at two other laws. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks posted on X Dec. 4 about two laws he planned to enforce going forward. 8 USC §1815 allows Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to require illegal aliens to pay a fee once they are caught within the U.S. The amount of money as established by the secretary is due from any inadmissible alien in question at whatever time he is apprehended between U.S. ports of entry. The law states:

“For fiscal year 2025, the amount specified in this section shall be the greater of-

(A) $5,000; or

(B) such amount as the Secretary of Homeland Security may establish, by rule.”

After the billions of dollars the U.S. taxpayer has been forced to disburse for illegals, it’s rather gratifying to know some of them will be paying us.

Finally, we have 8 USC §1324, which basically deals with human trafficking of illegal aliens. It states:

“Any person who—

(i)knowing that a person is an alien, brings to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry or place other than as designated by the Commissioner …transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States… conceals, harbors, or shields from detection …[or] encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States… shall be punished.”

If convicted under this provision, one could receive up to five years in prison.

We have had a bitter taste under the Biden administration of the lawlessness, chaos, and crime attendant on federal failures to enforce our immigration laws. No criminal who breaks these laws should do so with impunity, be he illegal alien or citizen. 

It's high time we saw greater enforcement of all pertinent laws on the books.