ICE officers working in Los Angeles are being followed home, harassed on social media and confronted in person while carrying out immigration enforcement, the agency’s local field office director said this week. Those officers receive little assistance from local police. LAPD policy, rooted in Special Order 40 and the city’s sanctuary ordinance, bars officers from initiating action solely to determine immigration status or assisting in civil immigration enforcement, according to a statement from Chief Jim McDonnell.
Los Angeles ICE Field Office Director Thomas Giles told Fox News Digital that the sanctuary rules force his agents into the community instead of allowing secure transfers at local jails. Fox News Digital accompanied Giles and a team of officers on an enforcement operation in the Los Angeles area early last Thursday morning. “The sanctuary policies definitely impact our operations in terms of it’d be a lot easier for us to have that transfer of custody in a secure environment,” Giles said. “So, what it does for us is it sends our officers out into the community, putting our officers at risk and other community members at risk.”
