I ran the National Sheriffs’ Association. ICE’s tactics make our jobs harder.

Deploying masked goon squads shreds trust between local police and the community.

By Sheriff Dave Mahoney (Ret.)

For 15 years, I served as Sheriff of Dane County, WI. Before that, I served as a sheriff’s deputy, police officer, and detective for 26 years. And in 2020 – 21, I represented 3,800 sheriffs nationwide as the president of the National Sheriffs’ Association. I’ve done a lot of police work over my career, and here’s what it’s taught me:

Fostering good police-community relations is critical if we want to make our cities and neighborhoods safer. And once that bond of trust has been severed, it can take years or even generations to win back. Unfortunately, many of the current tactics on display by federal law enforcement—especially ICE—seem designed to alienate citizens from law enforcement.

When I was Sheriff, I spent a lot of time in Washington DC, including as part of a coalition of law enforcement officials working with the White House and President Donald Trump on immigration enforcement. The goal was simple and straightforward: ensuring criminal aliens did not enter the country. I told the president then, and still believe today, that law enforcement would be best served in this mission if resources were allocated toward catching human traffickers and other criminal elements, along with new technologies, rather than building a border wall.

I know what it takes to protect public safety and enforce the law. And I know the kinds of strong-arm tactics that backfire. There’s a line between enforcing the law without fear or favor, and unleashing cops in a way that’s sure to alienate the public. And the consequences can be dire: If people don’t trust law enforcement, we lose the ability to investigate crimes and arrest criminals. When people stop calling 911 out of fear they won’t be treated fairly, criminals go free, leaving the public and police officers at risk.

Sheriff Dave Mahoney (Ret.) / Credit: The Author

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has stated that ICE’s priority is catching “violent criminal illegal aliens”—the worst of the worst. That statement is refuted by the evidence of our own eyes. Time and again, we’ve seen videos of masked, unidentified federal agents arresting people who aren’t resisting, and doing so in a way that is sure to inflame the community. In some cases, they’ve even swept up US citizens and held them without charge for days.

The masks ICE agents wear also make it difficult for people to tell who’s a legitimate agent and who’s not. We wear uniforms as law enforcement for a reason—we should be proud of the work we do, and the people we serve should know who we are. Outside of limited circumstances where an agent’s identity absolutely must be kept secret—terrorism-related cases, undercover officers, etc.—we should show our faces to the public.

I’ve seen the real human toll these kinds of tactics can take. After the horrific, racially motivated 2019 El Paso shooting, one cooperating witness—someone who was working with the district attorney to help put the shooter away for life—was herself arrested by ICE and deported. This compromised the crucial evidence she was providing in the case, slowing down law enforcement’s work and making the community less safe as a result. In situations like these, it makes sense to evaluate the actual circumstances of the case, rather than indiscriminately throwing somebody out.

Our job is to keep the community safe; so many of ICE’s tactics are doing the opposite right now. And it’s our local law enforcement personnel—those who are closest to the people, who are out there on the beat every day—who ultimately lose out as a result of this bad deal. I’m a career cop, and I’ve spent my life doing this work because I really believe it makes a difference. I’ve sat across from the president and given him my honest opinion on these matters before. And I’m prepared to do it again, if he would listen.

Sheriff Dave Mahoney (Ret.) served as Sheriff of Dane County, WI and represented 3,800 sheriffs nationwide as the president of the National Sheriffs’ Association. He is a participant in Home of the Brave, a new initiative highlighting the harms of Donald Trump’s second term.