Dear Senator: As law enforcement leaders, our primary mission is to serve and protect our cities, counties and towns. In this respect, we are committed to a path to public safety – preserving the security of our communities and upholding the rule of law. Immigration enforcement is, first and foremost, a federal responsibility. We believe that making our communities safer means better defining roles and improving relationships between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Local control has been a beneficial approach for law enforcement for decades – having the federal government compel state and local law enforcement to carry out new and sometimes problematic tasks undermines the delicate federal balance and will harm locallybased, community-oriented policing. The valuable expertise and resources of our officers and deputies should prioritize threats such as dangerous criminals and criminal organizations causing harm. We believe that state and local law enforcement must work together with federal authorities to protect our communities and that we can best serve our communities by leaving the enforcement of immigration laws to the federal government. Threatening the removal of valuable grant funding from jurisdictions that choose not to spend limited resources enforcing federal immigration law is extremely problematic. Removing these funds that contribute to the health and well-being of communities across the nation would not make our communities safer and would not fix any part of our broken immigration system. The issue of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions is a complex one. There is no set definition of what comprises a “sanctuary jurisdiction” and the term is often defined much too broadly. The term often sweeps in localities that engage in well-established community policing practices or follow federal court decisions that have found federal immigration detainers violate the constitution. We are concerned that many jurisdictions that cooperate with federal immigration authorities and are in compliance with federal law, including the information-sharing requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1373, could find themselves facing penalties under various proposals under discussion, including the loss of important federal funding. We urge this Committee to be mindful of the current state of the law and the needs of local law enforcement while considering a legislative response that will ensure a path to public safety is achieved. Our immigration problem is a national problem deserving of a national approach, and we urge Congress to lead the way in working towards taking the necessary steps to fix our broken system through a permanent legislative solution. In so doing, we hope that this Committee will avoid taking actions that could harm community trust and make it harder for state and local law enforcement agencies to do our jobs. Sincerely, Chief Ernest Finley, Montgomery, AL Lieutenant Andy Norris, Tuscaloosa County, AL Sheriff Derrick Cunningham, Montgomery County, AL Chief Lester C. Patrick, Tuskegee, AL Chief Hayes Minor, Rogers, AR Sheriff Tony Estrada, Santa Cruz County, AZ Chief Chris Magnus, Tucson, AZ Retired Chief John Meza, Mesa, AZ Assistant Chief Michael Soelberg, Mesa, AZ Chief Roy Minter, Peoria, AZ Chief Silvia Moir, Tempe, AZ Retired Chief Roberto Villaseñor, Tucson, AZ Retired Chief James Lopez, Los Angeles County, CA Chief David Huerta, Fresno State University, CA Sheriff Margaret Mims, Fresno County, CA Chief Jody Sharp, Los Angeles County, CA Sheriff Donny Youngblood, Kern County, CA Chief Dwight Henninger, Vail, CO Sheriff Joe Pelle, Boulder County, CO Chief John Mina, Orlando, FL Sheriff Michael Chitwood, Volusia County, FL Sheriff Timothy Lane, Scott County, IA Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald, Story County, IA Sheriff Bill McCarthy, Polk County, IA Mark Prosser, Public Safety Director, Storm Lake, IA Chief Mike Tupper, Marshalltown, IA Officer Dustin Robinson, Refugee Liaison, Boise, ID Sheriff Mark Curran, Lake County, IL Michael Masters, Senior Vice President, The Soufan Group, Chicago, IL Retired Chief Ron Teachman, South Bend, IN Retired Chief James Hawkins, Garden City, KS Chief Michael Utz, Garden City, KS Chief Gordon Ramsay, Wichita, KS Commissioner William Evans, Boston, MA Chief Brian Kyes, Chelsea, MA Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, Middlesex County, MA Chief Tom Manger, Montgomery County, MD Chief Ron Haddad, Dearborn, MI Sheriff Richard Stanek, Hennepin County, MN Chief Todd Axtell, Saint Paul, MN Retired Chief Jose Lopez, Durham, NC Chief Richard Biehl, Dayton, OH Chief Eliot Isaac, Cincinnati, OH Commissioner Richard Ross, Philadelphia, PA Commissioner of Public Safety Steven Pare, Providence, RI Sheriff Adell Dobey, Edgefield County, SC Chief William Holbrook, Columbia, SC Chief Jimmy Dixon, Clemson, SC Sheriff Leon Lott, Richland County, SC Chief Fred Fletcher, Chattanooga, TN Chief Brian Manley, Austin, TX Chief Art Acevedo, Houston, TX Chief William McManus, San Antonio, TX Sheriff Lupe Valdez, Dallas County, TX Chief Mike Brown, Salt Lake City, UT Retired Chief Chris Burbank, Salt Lake City, UT Deputy Chief Carmen Best, Seattle, WA Chief Kathleen O’Toole, Seattle, WA Assistant Chief Randy Gaber, Madison, WI Chief Mike Koval, Madison, WI Chief Todd Thomas, Appleton, WI Chief Andrew Smith, Green Bay, WI Chief Dean M. Smith, Oshkosh, WI