According to a story in USA Today by Alan Gomez, a number of law enforcement departments throughout the United States -- including some in major urban areas, such as Chicago -- are hiring non-citizens as officers. The article tells us that a few don't even demand that the individual be a permanent resident alien; they simply require that the alien have permission to work.
The newspaper goes so far as to make the absurd comparison of such policies with military policies on hiring aliens. The analogy is a dud because soldiers, when armed, perform their duties outside of the United States, courtesy of the Posse Comitatus Act, where they are -- surprise -- themselves the foreigners; they are not conducting domestic police operations in the United States. This bright-line distinction should not be obfuscated or blurred by political correctness.
Why are such hiring policies incredible and incredibly foolish? Let me count the ways.
First let's consider the hypocrisy, for instance in Chicago, home to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to the sitting president, which has among the strictest gun laws in the country. Some observers have noted that the effect of the registration and permitting laws has been to dispossess law-abiding African Americans of the right to bear arms (while apparently doing nothing to curb violent gang-related crime and murder, leaving one to ponder both the efficacy and fairness of such a regimen).
Then let's consider federal firearm laws. Apparently, they aren't strict enough, if the result is to arm illegal aliens who might even be able to carry those guns or be police officers solely courtesy of the Obama administration's “executive action” DACA program giving them “lawful presence” and work permits. Now isn't that ironic? Liberal thinkers actually expanding the number of people entitled to own and carry guns.
Third, there's the question of propriety. Is it really appropriate to give aliens who haven't been accorded the right to reside permanently in the United States (or who are resident aliens, but are unwilling to take the final step to naturalize) dominion over U.S. citizens? Because that is exactly what happens in virtually each and every encounter they will have with the public in their daily duties.
Next, when you think about the practicalities, one wonders what such jurisdictions can possibly be thinking. Such officers will not be able to participate fully in any federal task forces, whether they involve narcotics trafficking or terrorism or any of a whole host of other things, that involve sensitive or classified information because federal authorities cannot share such information with these individuals.
Then there is the question of their access to places that are inherently sensitive: should these officers be permitted to go behind the secure perimeter of airports, or critical infrastructure facilities, with their weapons? I sincerely hope not.
Sixth and finally, one wonders how a police department or sheriff's office adequately vets such an individual. Need I go further to talk about how such hiring policies sound to a terrorist group or drug cartel?