Stay tuned for more of this conversation next week.<\/p>\n
Though his attention is local, Dyer has also weighed in on the enforcement tactics of the Trump administration\u2019s deportation campaign.<\/p>\n
The Republican mayor has praised President Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to secure the border, but he\u2019s also been critical of the administration\u2019s enforcement and arrest tactics, particularly after the deaths of two American citizens, Ren\u00e9e Good and Alex Pretti, by ICE agents in January.<\/p>\n
Last month, Dyer joined a group of bipartisan mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C. calling for more accountability and training for ICE officers<\/a> and a pause to the current approach to immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n While Fresno hasn\u2019t experienced the same presence of masked federal immigration agents in the streets like other large cities across the country, several people were detained by ICE in the area in late January in an apparent traffic stop<\/a>. The region has also experienced an uptick of ICE arrests under the Trump administration<\/a>, including courthouse arrests<\/a> and during green card appointments<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what Dyer had to say about ICE immigration enforcement, with light edits for clarity.<\/p>\n Q. When you were in Washington D.C., you shared some remarks about what mayors can say and do regarding the federal immigration enforcement. What do you see as the role of a mayor in maybe weighing in and commenting on this national moment right now?<\/p>\n What happens with federal agencies in local communities ultimately has an impact on our neighbors that live in Fresno, it has an impact on policing, and has an impact on city government. We recognize that.<\/p>\n What I said in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Conference of Mayors was that one thing I\u2019ve learned over my 40 years in law enforcement is the importance of trust. People have to trust the police officers that come into their community and neighborhood. And if you don\u2019t have that trust, and you don\u2019t have the permission from those people to police those neighborhoods, then they\u2019re going to be rejected, and they\u2019re going to be seen as an occupying force, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing across the nation with ice they\u2019ve been rejected. They\u2019ve not built a level of trust.<\/p>\n Part of the reason is the manner in which they\u2019re operating, and the tactics that they\u2019ve been utilizing, and those tactics, in many cases, are just not being used by local law enforcement. In fact, they\u2019ve been abandoned 30 years ago.<\/p>\n So my advice to the administration, to ICE is to provide training to ICE officials, ICE agents, very similar to the training we provide our local law enforcement, and for them to be held to the same standard that local law enforcement is held to. And to maybe regroup, pull back, and then let\u2019s approach this in a different way.<\/p>\n And the other thing is, is that we\u2019re seeing a lot of people that do not have criminal records be detained and deported by ICE<\/a>.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t the understanding of the American people. We were going to focus on the worst first, and so hopefully we can get to that point where we\u2019re deporting serious criminals from our country.<\/p>\n Q. A new California law bans federal agents wearing masks. You\u2019ve said that you wouldn\u2019t support enforcing that. How do you balance not enforcing a state law with your history of law enforcement?<\/p>\n Note: after this interview, a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Monday that California\u2019s ban on federal agents wearing masks is unconstitutional<\/a> because it exempts state law enforcement officers from the same requirement.<\/p>\n There is a time and place for law enforcement to wear masks. For example, our SWAT officers may wear a mask when they\u2019re deploying on the perimeter for the purpose of allowing them not to be seen, especially during hours of darkness, right? They kind of blend in with the environment.<\/p>\n But when you\u2019re dealing with citizens, interacting with people, that isn\u2019t a time to wear a mask. I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s appropriate for that to occur. In fact, there can be a sense of anonymity by an officer, an agent, to where they start behaving in a way that they normally wouldn\u2019t, if their face was exposed, which is why I\u2019m a big believer in body-worn cameras. I\u2019m glad to see that ICE is now using body-worn cameras. (Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Feb. 2 that every Homeland Security officer on the ground in Minneapolis<\/a>, including ICE, would be immediately issued body-worn cameras and would expand the body-worn camera program nationwide as funding becomes available).<\/p>\n We will comply with that law in terms of our police officers, but there are some exceptions that are written into the law, and we understand that.<\/p>\n But in terms of arresting ICE agents who are armed \u2013 and having our police officers confront ICE agents because they\u2019re wearing a mask \u2013 I think, is a disaster, and could lead to a lot of problems beyond that, we could even anticipate.<\/p>\n What good could come from an armed police officer and an armed ICE agent getting into a confrontation over a mask?<\/p>\n I\u2019m not the only one that feels that way. The LAPD Police Chief (Jim McDonnell) just stated that<\/a>, mayors and police chiefs across the nation have stated that. It\u2019s just not something that I think is healthy.<\/p>\n And so I would encourage the administration to not have ICE agents wear masks.<\/p>\n