Santa Cruz Police Were Lied to by DHS
From San Jose Mercury News and KQED Radio:
Santa Cruz, California, police say they were misled by the Department of Homeland Security into helping make immigration arrests during a raid on suspected gang members.
Police Chief Kevin Vogel and Assistant Chief Dan Flippo said at a news conference on Thursday that federal officials lied when they assured them a Feb. 13 joint operation would not include immigration-related arrests during a raid on the El Salvador-based gang known by the names MS-13 and Mara Salvatrucha.
Flippo said he didn’t learn of the immigration arrests until the next night, when dozens of protesters disrupted a City Council meeting to voice their displeasure.
‘We can’t cooperate with a law enforcement agency we cannot trust.’Police Chief Kevin Vogel
Vogel said the department no longer trusts the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and will no longer work with the agency.
“I want to underscore that we would never have participated or cooperated in this operation if we had known that it included immigration enforcement,” Vogel said. “As a result of this betrayal of trust, we will be taking a long and hard look about whether we will cooperate with this federal agency in the future.
bh