Earlier this year, President Trump declared a national emergency regarding undocumented immigrants in the United States.
I talked with some law enforcement officials around Montana to discuss their position on border patrol, as well as what their role would be in detaining said individuals.
“We’ve already talked to our partners at homeland security and our partners at border patrol and what they've initially told us is those detainees would go into our U.S. Marshal federal contract, so we do already have a plan in place,” said Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter.
Montana House Bill 439 (link) was introduced this legislative session, which both Sheriff Slaughter and Valley County Sheriff Boyer support.
The bill states “a federal agent may not make an arrest, search, or seizure in this state without the written permission of the sheriff of said county.”
Valley County Sheriff Tom Boyer, said, “I would say that if that were to occur in Valley County, I would cooperate fully with the federal entities involved in that. I would also expect that they would provide notification to the sheriff's office and to me directly about any activity that would occur.”
Both Sheriff Slaughter and Sheriff Boyer said their offices will help in any way they can to ensure the safety of their communities.
“My stance has always been the same. People work really hard to come into this country legally, and it's not fair that somebody could come into this country illegal and circumvent that,” said Sheriff Slaughter.
“I strongly support it. I do believe it's important to protect and serve our community,” said Sheriff Boyer. “The reason that it's so important, the reason I’m a strong supporter of [President Trump's] hard stance is because to protect our communities, we need to not have illegal criminals and this copious drug flow coming in and invading our country.”
