Contra Costa County has reportedly become the latest county in Northern California in the past month to sever its contract with the federal government’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to jail illegal aliens at a Richmond jail over rising costs and pushback against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Last month, the Sacramento County jail also severed ties with ICE. And in December, Monterey County cut ties to the law enforcement agency.
“There is not one single overriding issue that causes the termination of this contract,” Sheriff David Livingston said at a news conference in Martinez, California, on Tuesday, as reported by SFGate.com.
“The outstanding work by the over 1,000 employees of the office of the sheriff has been overshadowed by the attention the ICE contract brings, even though immigration is a matter of federal law,” Livingston reportedly added. “Managing protests in Richmond have become expensive and time-consuming for our staff.”
Livingston reportedly has unilateral authority to cancel the contract with ICE by giving 120 days’ notice, which means it will become inactive in November.
ICE officials were reportedly disappointed with Livingston’s announced move.
Some Democrats are calling on the government to “abolish ICE,” while Hollywood actress-turned-New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon tweeted has begun referring to ICE as a “terrorist organization.”
Trump supporters, meanwhile, believe that the Democrats’ attacks on ICE will backfire.
Dilbert creator and cartoonist Scott Adams reportedly suggested President Trump should rename ICE to the “National Immigration and Customs Enforcement” so that when Democrats try to abolish it, they would be getting rid of “NICE.”
Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Photo: file
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