Non-citizen police officers? Only in Illinois!

Non-citizen police officers? Only in Illinois!

Illinois! Where bad ideas go to flourish. – The new state motto as proposed by Jeff Ward

I swear that a group of progressive legislators holds a weekly 2 a.m. meeting in the back of a dark Springfield bar to in an effort to come up with what might be the worst possible piece of legislation. And they always seem to top their previous proposal, too.

This time it was Aurora state rep Barbara Hernandez, a woman who will never be a threat to MENSA, who sponsored a bill that would allow Illinois non-citizens to become police officers.

To be more specific, House Bill 3751 essentially eliminates  an existing state law prohibiting law enforcement agencies from employing non-citizens as police officers. Language was added to the bill only permitting non-citizens who are “legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law,” and who received federal approval to “obtain, carry, or purchase or otherwise possess a firearm,” to serve. It was further amended in the Senate to include DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) eligible immigrants.

But before we get to my issues with this initiative, considering hyper-conservative mental midgets Lauren Boebert’s and Ron DeSantis’ Twitter reactions, we really need to clear the air first. Their tweets, which ran along the lines of, “People who are breaking the law by their presence here can now arrest American citizens,” were dead wrong, and we would be just as stupid as they are if we didn’t discuss what this bill isn’t.

And it’s certainly not license for undocumented residents to besiege your local police department for application forms. Again, those covered by the new law MUST be here legally, they MUST be authorized to work in the U.S., and they MUST have federal approval to own a firearm.

It’s also important to note that the bill passed with wide bi-partisan support. The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police endorsed it and even Republican state rep John Cabello of Machesney Park, a pro-Trump police officer, voted “aye.” So, just drop all of the partisan BS because it doesn’t apply here.

But despite this rare form of 2023 political cooperation, I have four major problems with this statutory shift.

The first is, despite my social liberal tendencies, I actually agree with frequently nutty Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller, who in an exceedingly brief bout of sanity Tweeted, “No sane state would allow foreign nationals to arrest their citizens, this is madness!” Though, that rational moment quickly passed as Miller also claimed the bill would “allow illegal to become police officers” which, as we just demonstrated, is an outright lie.

I’m not quite sure why this possibility sits so poorly with me, but if the thought causes that kind of gut reaction with a journalist like me, there’s typically something to it. Not to mention this unease would likely be far greater among the proletariat, and when people start questioning a police officer’s authority, it can lead to dire consequences.

It’s not that I’m questioning the loyalty of any immigrant, many of whom express a far greater love for this country due to the injustices they endured elsewhere. It’s that this move opens the door to questioning those allegiances.

Worse yet, this new precedent will make it even more difficult for Hispanic and Asian officers who were born here. By virtue of their obvious ethnicity, their law enforcement legitimacy will also be questioned leading to more unnecessary confrontations.

Which brings us to problem number three, an issue that no one’s considered.

60 Minutes Australia did a scathing expose on the illegal “police stations” the Chinese government inserted into 53 foreign countries in June, including the U.S. and Canada. These “outposts’” sole purpose is to harass Chinese emigres who’ve dared to criticize and question the communist regime. Those “enforcers” aren’t actually police officers, but imagine the havoc they could wreak if they were.

I know it sounds like I’ve been watching too many bad ‘50s movies, but the Chinese have become so brazen in their attempts to manipulate former citizens and influence other countries that I’m convinced they’d try to take advantage of this law. Considering what they’ve already done this regard, it wouldn’t be too terribly difficult for them to do that, either.

With all of that duly entered into the record, my biggest issue with this initiative is the absurdly ironic nature of it.

Whenever they’re asked to justify the new legislation, Hernandez and her Democratic ilk repeatedly cite “the difficulties involved in recruiting police officers these days.” But who’s responsible for those “difficulties?” That’s right! The Democrats and their overly “woke” policies have turned the profession into a nightmare.

But instead of reasonably rolling back the protocols that created those recruiting problems, the same legislators want to compound their error with another mistake that will make it even more difficult for citizens and non-citizens to serve as law enforcement officers.

Isn’t that a lot like the guy who just set your house on fire offering to help you put it out? I’m not sure I’d trust him in that regard.

All that said, and whether like it or not, Governor Pointless just signed HB 3751 into law, so there’s nothing we can do now but maintain a reasonable vigilance as we wait to see whatever consequences there may, or may not, be.

It’s just one of the many perks of living in a state with a Democratic supermajority that’s addicted to embracing really bad ideas.

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