The City of Los Angeles is taking steps to allow illegal immigrant police officers to be armed at all times.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said his Department is leading the initiative to allow “non-citizen DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients who become sworn officers the ability to carry a firearm full-time,” Fox News reports.
The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners unanimously approved the outline of a policy to allow DACA recipients the ability to carry firearms off the job.
“Under state and federal law, illegal immigrants are prohibited from having firearms. However, DACA recipients are allowed to carry firearms in the course of their law enforcement duties,” The Center Square noted.
However, the LAPD looks to change that.
The policy hasn’t been finalized and could take weeks or months to become official.
Los Angeles looking to allow illegal immigrant police officers to be armed 24/7 | Just The News https://t.co/DQqnVE8p1e
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) December 27, 2023
From The Center Square:
In 2022, California passed a law allowing those authorized to work under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order for those who entered the country illegally as minors to become police officers. LAPD graduated its first DACA recipient earlier this year, and is set to graduate a class of nine DACA recipients in spring of 2024, thus making the question of whether or not DACA recipients should be able to carry their firearms off duty a matter of serious debate.
“While California became the first state to pass a law seeking and securing federal approval to allow DACA recipients to become armed police officers, Colorado recently became the second, passing a similar bill in April 2023,” The Center Square noted.
California allows illegals to be cops. So does Colorado. @RealJamesWoods @BasedMikeLee @realDonaldTrump @marklevinshow @dbongino @charliekirk11 @canammissing @SpeakerJohnson https://t.co/na27wQ5XcH
— Matthew G (@MatthewGrogan) December 27, 2023
“We’ve worked closely with the Department of Justice at the state and federal level to express the fact that we desire to form a model policy that we think meets this moment and is the state of the law and provisions of immigration policy in the United States,” Moore said.
More from Fox News:
The topic of DACA recipients working as police officers is complicated and raises many legal and safety questions, including whether a non-citizen should ever arrest a US citizen and what would happen if a DACA migrant suddenly loses their legal status.
“I don’t foresee them losing their status,” Moore said, “What we see instead is a trend across the country going the other way, recognizing that DACA recipients otherwise are fully functional members of our society.”
“They work and are employed. They pay taxes. They act in other responsible ways and this is an expansion or an allowance for us to take advantage of them.”
An LAPD source tells Fox News that being a police officer is a full-time job, and not allowing a DACA recipient the ability to carry a weapon could potentially jeopardize their life.
“It’s a safety issue for them because they often work in the communities they police,” the police source said.
“It’s happened more than once where I’ve run into people off-duty that I’ve either arrested or are family members of a gang member that I sent to prison for twenty years and I’m with my family. I’m armed, but these individuals won’t be.”