Libby Schaaf, the mayor of Oakland, California, made the daringly foolish choice to warn illegal immigrants in the Bay Area that Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents were on their way to raid the place. She posted the warning online 24 hours before ICE was scheduled to arrive.
She shared the notice with the intent to "protect" citizens, not frighten them, she wrote.
"Oakland is safer when we share information, encourage community awareness, and care for our neighbors."
It turns out the community is much "safer" having been swept by ICE, as a sizable number of the people the agents arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area had violent criminal records.
Of those 232, 180 “were either convicted criminals, had been issued a final order of removal and failed to depart the United States, or had been previously removed” from the country and had come back illegally.
Another 115 “had prior felony convictions for serious or violent offenses.” (Fox News)
Those convictions include aggravated assault, murder, a hit and run, lewd acts with a minor, burglary, cruelty toward a child, indecent exposure, domestic violence, drug trafficking, battery, sex offenses and false imprisonment, an ICE spokesperson told Fox.
ICE Deputy Director Thomas D. Homan said before the raid concluded that there were 864 illegal immigrants in the Bay Area and is unsure how many escaped their grasp.
Schaaf has defended her decision to tip off illegals in the area, suggesting it was noble and the "right thing" to do. She has no regrets.
The DOJ is considering what to do with Schaaf, currently reviewing whether the mayor broke any laws.
They do know, however, that she'd be willing to go to jail.
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