The latest wave of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Fresno and other Valley communities is so egregious that ICE is again being rightfully criticized by our city’s Republican mayor.

“This should not have caught us by surprise. In fact, we should’ve expected it. We should’ve expected it from the first moment when a quota was set forth by our president,” Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said at a news conference Friday morning put together by the Nisei Farmers League.

Dyer explained that he had been contacted by Fowler Packing, which was concerned because some of its workers had been picked up by ICE. Understand: Fowler Packing is owned by the Parnagian family and is a worldwide leader in tree fruit innovation.

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‘Communities Living in Fear’

Understand, too, that when ICE makes workers disappear, many other workers are afraid to work. Fear of unlawful detention by poorly trained, Constitution-shredding, thuggish ICE agents sends a chill through our neighborhoods. Children stop going to school. Construction sites shut down. Families avoid anyplace that might be in ICE crosshairs.

Like Dyer, I believe that America’s borders should be tightly sealed and opened only to those who legally enter. But for decades, U.S. leaders looked the other way as millions poured in without documentation and performed the jobs that longtime Americans weren’t willing to do for the wages offered.

“What I do not support is people in the community living in fear,” Dyer said. “The recent immigration enforcement in our agricultural fields and our construction sites is unacceptable. … Is that really what we voted for in America? I don’t believe so — I know I didn’t.”

This isn’t the first time Dyer has stuck his neck out to speak truth to power. In January, he criticized federal agents for “using tactics that have shocked the conscience of America. Tactics that were abandoned long ago by local and state law enforcement agencies.”

71% of ICE Detainees Don’t Have Criminal Convictions

Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, released a statement earlier this week saying that he had been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security about its aggressive enforcement actions in the Valley.

“They’ve informed my office that these operations are focused on individuals with active warrants and known criminal histories,” Valadao said.

The record shows that ICE always says that, and it’s rarely true. Nearly 71% of people held in ICE detention as of July 11 had no criminal convictions, according to tracreports.org, an independent data-gathering and research group.

Moreover, many ICE officials and agents lie nearly every time their lips move. Fortunately, the facts, independent testimony, and videos expose many of the lies.

Consider what a federal judge, Gary R. Brown, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, recently said about two cases involving ICE agents in New York.

In a scathing 28-page ruling, Brown condemned the agency’s tactics when it mistakenly arrested two Hispanic men, including a U.S. citizen. The judge found that ICE had “falsified official records” and tried to conceal its “illegal actions.”

Brown also wrote that immigration agents involved in the arrests gave “inconsistent, false, and misleading testimony” in court, and said that they had probably perjured themselves. He found that the officers were inexperienced, possessed little understanding of the law, and used “false testimony to conceal these failings.”

Such cases are not rare. We’ve seen trigger-happy ICE agents kill Americans without cause and celebrate those killings. And here in Fresno, we learned Friday that police arrested an off-duty ICE agent on suspicion of assaulting a woman and her 72-year-old father at their Tower District home. Police said the agent was found sleeping on their front lawn and appeared intoxicated when awakened.

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ICE Is the Real Threat to Public Safety

ICE doesn’t make communities safe. In fact, it’s the other way around. ICE agents threaten public safety in every community they invade.

Furthermore, the pretense for their presence is nonsense.

Our local law enforcement professionals identify and arrest the “worst of the worst” every day. And they do this difficult, dangerous job without masks while wearing their badges and utilizing arrest and search warrants. Sometimes, they perform these duties in tandem with federal law enforcement professionals from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Trump has turned ICE into his personal army of mouth-breathing brown shirts. Their goal is to intimidate, create fear, and remind everyone all over the land that Trump is king. Nothing they do keeps us safe.

Remember that when you vote on Nov. 3.

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