Sheriff Ugarte Puts Local Crime First, Steers Clear of Immigration Cases

(Miamistandard) EL PASO, Texas- Oscar Ugarte, the new sheriff of El Paso County, stated that his agency is not concentrating on enforcing immigration law; instead, it is focusing on tackling crimes that harm the residents of El Paso.
Ugarte stated, “I believe it is a bad idea for the federal government to compel local law enforcement to enforce immigration law.” “To begin with, we lack the necessary training. We lack the necessary resources. At the moment, I do not have enough correctional officers working at the facility. I do not have enough deputies to patrol our community. Additionally, our county jails are nearly full, therefore I do not have any extra beds.
Ugarte stated that they will keep working together and will continue to have a good relationship with federal authorities, and he does not anticipate that this will change. Ugarte stated that they have accepted and would continue to accept persons who have been apprehended by federal immigration agents and hold them in local county jails.
Ugarte expressed concern that if President Donald Trump attempts to compel local authorities to broaden their responsibilities in order to enforce immigration law, a town like El Paso will lose faith in his office and it will hinder his deputies’ ability to meet the needs of the community.
“I believe that it will cause a rift between the community and local law enforcement.” I believe that many crimes will go undetected, and as a result, there will be victims who do not receive justice because of that fear. We will keep working. Immigration is not our top priority. Ugarte stated, “I believe that there are a number of urgent issues in our community that we should be paying attention to.”
Ugarte commented on a memo that was handed out by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this week. The document instructed prosecutors to investigate any state and local authorities that hinder Trump’s immigration policy. Ugarte stated that the language in the memo is troubling, but he is certain that his office is not obstructing in any way.
Ugarte, on the other hand, stated that the instructions being sent from the White House are not particularly clear. He stated that they will need to carefully examine the wording of Trump’s executive orders or the DOJ’s guidance to make sure that they are lawful, and that his office is capable of understanding how to avoid conflicting with the directives.
“Suppose I don’t have the means to provide any real assistance to the federal government. Will that be deemed an obstruction? Will we need to hire more deputies in order to follow their orders? Are there any funds associated with the mandates? Ugarte stated, “We really need to sit down and understand, get more clarification.”
During his first 24 days in office, Ugarte stated that he has made it a priority to visit patrol stations throughout the County in order to evaluate call volumes in various locations and determine where they will need to hire more employees.
Ugarte added, “If we need to request more staff, I’m preparing for when I go to the next budget talks to present to the Commissioners Court.” “Over the past few years, we have witnessed significant expansion in the East Side of the towns that we patrol. So we absolutely need an increase of deputies because the number of deputies patrolling per shift on the East Side areas has not grown in a couple of years.”