Obama’s pen and phone: immigration cops become child protection agents
Since the onslaught of the Obama administration’s anti-enforcement juggernaut regarding illegal immigration, one of the Department of Homeland Security’s largest bureaus, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has been forced to take on other duties that have nothing to do with immigration or with homeland security.
For example, ICE officials have been charged with creating what’s being called the Angel Watch Center with the purpose of expanding efforts to alert foreign officials about the overseas travel plans of convicted and registered child sex offenders from the U.S. This latest ICE program is the result of the signing of the International Megan’s Law by President Barack Obama this week.
“ICE’s Operation Angel Watch plays a crucial role in the global fight against child sex tourism. Under this unique and innovative initiative, we are able to send actionable information to our law enforcement partners around the globe so that they can assess the situation and respond appropriately, whether that is to deny an individual entry into their country, or to monitor that individual’s travel for potential danger to children,” said ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña, who was appointed by Obama in 2014.
“The creation of a formalized and expanded Angel Watch Center further enhances our efforts to protect children around the world,” she said.
But while protecting American children from sexual predators is a necessary and worthy endeavor, many local law enforcement officers are not celebrating this use of an immigration enforcement agency to monitor sexual predators.
According to ICE officials, Operation Angel Watch targets individuals who have were convicted of sex crimes involving a child and who may likely remain a threat to children. The U.S. government fears there is a potential these men and women to travel to other countries in order to continue their sex abuse or sexually exploiting minors such as producing “kiddie porn.” Law enforcement agencies throughout the world recognize this crime as being “child sex tourism.”
According to a statement from the Homeland Security Department, “In addition to creating the Angel Watch Center, the new law provides the authority for the center to receive information from other countries about convicted child predators intending to travel to the United States, and it directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security, to seek agreements and use technical assistance with other countries so that the United States is notified in advance of incoming foreign sex offenders.”
“This is the Obama administration trying to find ‘busy-work’ for its federal cops who are being prevented from enforcing immigration-related laws. ICE is one of the largest bureaus in the Homeland Security Department and, along with the U.S. Border Patrol is responsible for protecting the homeland and our national sovereignty,” said police training officer Joseph L. Rheinquist.
Meanwhile, former police detective Iris Aquino is more direct in her criticism. “The progressives like Obama are always using children as cannon fodder for their agendas. Who can be against combating sex crimes against children? But these same progressives are the first to defend illegal aliens who are sexual predators of children. And they verbally attack anyone — such as GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump — for discussing the criminals entering the United States due to a lax border security and immigration strategy,” she said.
