The Greene County Sheriff’s Office said it’s ready to help detain undocumented immigrants in the area if it’s asked to do so by the Trump Administration.
Sheriff Jim Arnott said they’ve been working with U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement or ICE for the last few months "after the election results were final, knowing what President Trump's directive is going to be," he said. "So we do have some plans in place. We have beds available for immigration, and we will assist with the president's director of, whatever that might be, as far as housing illegals or work on transporting them to an ICE facility or something like that."
In a statement to KSMU, Arnott said his office has “a great relationship with our federal partners including I.C.E.” According to Arnott, "we will work under President Trump’s direction and enforce the law, removing illegal immigrants from our community." He said they will assist with fugitive apprehension if the Trump Administration requests it and that their biggest concern is undocumented immigrants who are committing crimes," which we see all the time, and we have several in jail right now that — illegals that are here and committed felonies and then, so they're awaiting the direction to go."
Studies, including one by Stanford University Economist Ran Abramitzky, have shown that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born people.
KSMU reached out to the Springfield Police Department as well. Spokeswoman Cris Swaters replied in an email: “We can’t speculate about what may or may not happen in the future. SPD has always coordinated with federal partners on investigations and regarding individuals who are arrested.” She told the Midwest Newsroom, a partner of KSMU, that assisting federal agencies with arresting and detaining people who are undocumented “has not been a topic of discussion at this time.”
