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Law & Orders: Morrisey directs West Virginia, local law enforcement to cooperate with immigration enforcement

Gov. Patrick Morrisey holds up an executive order Thursday calling for law enforcement cooperation with ICE. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — Citing the continued influx of fentanyl and other illegal drugs coming into West Virginia, Gov. Patrick Morrisey ordered all law enforcement agencies in the state to cooperate as the federal government begins removing illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds from the U.S.

Speaking during a press conference Thursday morning at the State Capitol Building, Morrisey announced the signing of an executive order directing the state Department of Homeland Security, the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the West Virginia State Police, and county and city law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement officials.

Morrisey also said he was sending letters to state and local law enforcement agencies urging them to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and Morrisey’s executive order.

“We are trying to urge them to fully cooperate with President Trump’s executive order and our executive order so that we can actually ensure that the people on the ground, the folks that are protecting our citizens every single day, that they are taking action, they are cooperating to fight back against this terrible menace,” Morrisey said.

Trump announced several executive orders following his inauguration last week. These orders included declaring a state of emergency at the southern border, reinstating the Remain in Mexico asylum policy, ending the catch-and-release policy for undocumented immigrants, sending federal troops to the border, and designating South American drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey greets the press Thursday prior to a press conference at the Governor’s Conference Room. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

Trump also signed the Laken Riley Act, which requires any undocumented immigrant to be held without bail in federal detention facilities and subject to deportation when arrested on certain theft-related misdemeanors, such burglary, shoplifting, and larceny.

The focus during Trump’s first week in office has been on apprehending illegal immigrants with prior violent criminal histories. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 7,300 illegal immigrants have been arrested and returned to their countries of origin along with hundreds of detained migrants with prior criminal histories who have not crossed into the U.S. legally.

In West Virginia, Morrisey said the number of illegal immigrants with prior criminal histories being held in state correctional facilities on behalf of ICE rose to 72, though 10 of those individuals were transferred to Kentucky.

Of those, Morrisey said 13 were already serving sentences, including one serving a sentence for murder. Another 36 are in state correctional facilities for violations of immigration laws, such as re-entering the U.S. illegally or who were set to be deported prior to absconding.

While West Virginia might not be the largest hub for illegal immigration, Morrisey said the state’s substance use disorder crisis drives some of the influx into the state, such as cartel drug mules transporting fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the state to meet demand.

“The linkage between illegal immigration and death in our state is very, very real,” Morrisey said. “Now we are learning more information and more things that West Virginia can do to get on top of this illegal immigration problem. There is a much bigger illegal immigration problem going on in West Virginia than anyone has previously known.”

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. comes from multiple sources, with the key ingredients coming from China, mixed into other drugs, and smuggled into the U.S. through both Mexico and Canada through legal points of entry and illegally across the border.

Morrisey sent a letter two weeks ago to West Virginia’s congressional delegation seeking their help in pressuring the federal government to declare fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. Morrisey also said he would take a holistic approach to the state’s drug crisis in order to curb demand that is resulting in the flow of drugs to the state, as well as education campaigns working with the West Virginia First Foundation.

“There’s a law enforcement piece and there’s a big education prevention piece, because if people aren’t addicted, they’re going to be less vulnerable to these products coming in,” Morrisey said. “It’s obviously not a straightforward issue that there’s only one silver bullet to resolve the drug problem, but I want to continue that holistic approach as governor and I’m going to have more tools to do that.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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