OPINION: Donald Trump’s ugly immigration machine tarnishes everything it touches
Donald Trump’s publicity-seeking immigration crackdown in Wilder has managed to tarnish legitimate law enforcement — the FBI, Idaho State Police and a number of Idaho’s local law enforcement agencies — as well as the legacy of a revered Idaho Governor.
Phil Batt, who served as Idaho’s Governor from 1995 to 1999, was a champion of civil rights. He stood up for immigrants who provide the backbone for Idaho farmers, getting them workers’ compensation insurance coverage, as well as toilets in the field. The education building at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise was named in his honor.
When about 200 federal, state and local agents descended on a racetrack in Batt’s hometown to frighten and intimidate a festive crowd, it smeared an ugly stain upon the legacy of our former Governor and his beloved city. None of the people deserved to be terrorized by the abusive tactics of Trump’s chaos agents. It was an embarrassment for legitimate law enforcement agencies that were snookered into joining the fiasco.
There has been debate as to whether the operation was conceived by the FBI or by Trump’s border agents. The FBI has long been America’s premier law enforcement agency. It has gained the respect of the nation over the years by targeting sophisticated criminals and high-level crimes — cybercrimes, drug trafficking, terrorism, espionage, violent crimes and counterintelligence. However, Trump has diverted a substantial part of the FBI workforce away from those serious crimes to focus on immigration. FBI data shows that “nearly half of the FBI agents working in the US’s major field offices have been reassigned to aid immigration enforcement.” That shift has demoralized many veteran FBI agents. It is easy to see that what may have started as an FBI operation inevitably turned into a major immigration embarrassment — a tail wagging dog fiasco.
The FBI designation likely attracted the attendance of state and local law enforcement. I can imagine their surprise on learning that it was primarily an event to garner national headlines as a tough immigration roundup. A private security contractor, who was zip-tied until he lost feeling in his fingers, said that officers “were throwing flash bangs, guns were drawn and they were giving orders.” He said: “The spectacle is what was wanted, and the spectacle is what they got.”
The Idaho State Police and some local law enforcement agencies were roped into the roundup because of ICE–”287(g) partnership agreements, which provide some funding to the agencies, but obligate their participation in this type of event. It is regrettable that Governor Little has required our dedicated and professional ISP officers to go along with this type of travesty. They deserve much better.
It is not clear whether the FBI was pleased to have ICE and other federal agencies coopt their operation or whether it was known to the feds that the operation took place in the city that Idaho’s former champion of civil rights proudly called his home. Governor Little certainly knew of Phil Batt’s connection to the City of Wilder and had a responsibility to call the feds out for their disrespect of that great Idaho voice for immigrant workers and their families.
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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017).