Letter: Sheriff’s statement on immigration, ICE makes ‘our community less safe’

I am thankful for the dedicated officers of local law enforcement who daily put their lives on the line to promote “safe and equal protection for all” as the McHenry County Sheriff’s website states.

Unfortunately, Sheriff Tadelman’s statement regarding immigration contradicts this noble sentiment. The sheriff claims that his office should be able to “take action on an individual’s immigration status” without a judicial warrant.

[ Read more: McHenry County sheriff: Helping ICE with mass deportations hindered by state law ]

This is still America, and all individuals are entitled to due process. You claim not to be making a partisan statement, and yet you signed on to the false narrative that immigrants are all violent criminals in spite of study after study that proves U.S. citizens commit crimes at far higher rates than immigrants.

All your inflammatory statement serves to do is stoke fear and hatred of people of color in our community which gives rise to racially motivated violence. It is statements like yours that make our community less safe, not the immigrants who are living, working and contributing to our community.

How does a sheriff’s deputy know a person’s immigration status when deciding to make a traffic stop on county roads? It certainly couldn’t be just by looking like them as immigrants can come from Central and South America, Western Europe, Asia and anywhere else. Yet, we know where statements like yours leads: a presumption of guilt based on skin color.

Sheriff, your job is to enforce local laws, not to play vigilante on behalf of ICE. Stay in your lane.

Brian J. Crow

Lake in the Hills