Greene County sheriff Jack Williams isn’t against immigration, but he sees a need to curtail illegal immigration as a step in decreasing the flow of illegal drugs across the country’s southern border.
Williams was one of 10 Iowa sheriffs who signed a letter last week to President Joe Biden asking him to “help America’s Sheriffs keep our neighborhoods and communities safe by halting illegal immigration.” A total of 275 sheriffs from across the country signed the letter. There are 3,081 sheriff’s in the country, according to the National Sheriff’s Association.
The letter states that as the flood of illegal immigration continues, “more families will be exposed to the violence associated with drug trafficking and transnational gangs. More parents will suffer the loss of their children, not because they were irresponsible, but because of exposure to criminal illegal alien violence caused by the reckless and irresponsible policies of your administration.”
The letter states that Biden is “injecting political agendas that diminish the safety and security of our nation,” and that “in a myriad of ways, you and your administration are encouraging and sanctioning lawlessness and the victimization of the people of the United States of America, all in the name of mass illegal immigration.”
At the close of the letter, it states “America’s Sheriffs stand ready to work with you and your administration if you are willing to move in the right direction.”
Williams told GreeneCountyNewsOnline that Greene County residents aren’t unsafe due to illegal immigration, but law enforcement has been involved with undocumented immigrants.
Williams said there have been multiple charges of operating while intoxicated – first, second and third offenses – as well as some charges of domestic assault against undocumented immigrants. Typically, the defendants post bond and are never seen nor heard from again. “We have a ton of outstanding warrants against these people,” Williams said.
Greene County attorney Thomas Laehn told GreeneCountyNewsonline that there are no current Greene County cases involving a defendant known to be an undocumented immigrant. He added that he doesn’t recall having any cases involving undocumented immigrants since becoming county attorney in 2019.
He added, though, that there may well be outstanding warrants against undocumented immigrants. He is typically unaware of a criminal case until an arrest warrant is executed.
He said he thought about the letter for a couple of days before signing it. “I didn’t want to be reported as being against immigration, because I’m not,” he said. “But 98 percent of illegal drugs come from Mexico and we need to slow that down.” According to Williams, it’s illegal immigrants who are carrying the drugs.
He signed because “it was a well-written letter and I agreed with the better part of it.”
The sheriffs in Carroll, Cerro Gordo, Clayton, Grundy, Iowa, Lucas, Scott, Shelby and Wayne counties signed the letter in addition to Williams. Scott County is the third most populated county in the state with Davenport. Sheriffs in Polk and Linn, the two most populated counties, did not sign.
The 12-paragraph letter refers often to “America’s Sheriffs”, with the capitalization of “sheriff’s.”
Williams said that to his best knowledge, the letter did not originate with the watchdog group “America’s Sheriff” formed by sheriff Joe Arpaio and attorney Larry Klayman in September 2020. That group claims to be nonpartisan. According to Klayman, the group will pursue the rule of law and “take whatever strong and effective ethical, legal and peaceful actions that are necessary to protect and fight for the rights of law enforcement, which have been trashed, exposing We the People to ever increasing violence and death by the malevolent forces of the radical left.”
