Feds could pull police cash over illegal immigrant hires in new House bill

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican lawmaker is moving to block states from allowing people who come to the U.S. illegally or are residing here illegally to become police officers.

Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., introduced a bill this week to halt federal funds to law enforcement agencies that employ illegal immigrants as officers.

“My husband, Matt, he serves our community as a first responder, as a firefighter, and as a SWAT medic. And so we have really close ties to the law enforcement community. And it’s been really frustrating to see the challenges that they’ve undergone in the last decade,” Cammack told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday.

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“And, you know, being a conservative, we’ve watched the entire defund police movement—and now it’s come around to where, because of retention and recruitment challenges as a result of the regressive left’s actions, now departments are so desperate that they’re looking to hire illegals to fill their ranks. And it is horrifying.”

In addition to blocking funds for police departments if they hire illegal immigrants as officers, the bill would mandate that only U.S. citizens can serve as law enforcement officers.

It comes after Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Jamaican national for allegedly attempting to purchase a firearm illegally while working as a reserve police officer in Maine.

Federal officials said the man, Jon Luke Evans, overstayed his visa after having legally entered the U.S. in 2023. He reportedly said he wanted to purchase the firearm in connection to his law enforcement role.

Chief Elise Chard of the Old Orchard Beach Police Department said Evans was cleared to work by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) e-Verify system in May of this year.

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told local outlet WMTW that the department’s “reckless reliance on E-Verify” did not “absolve” it of its “legal duty to verify documentation authenticity.”

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Meanwhile, multiple states, including California, Illinois and Colorado, have laws allowing non-citizens with work authorization, such as DACA recipients, to become police officers.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy shields people brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation and who would not otherwise have legal status.