By Erica C. Barnett
Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes celebrated earlier this week after an anti-drug trafficking operation recovered fentanyl, guns, and cash from a stash house in Sammamish. The operation resulted in at least 10 arrests.
“This violent organization not only trafficked dangerous drugs but was responsible for putting firearms on our city streets,” Barnes said in a press release. “I’m thankful for the great work of our Seattle Police officers and our federal partners.”
Which federal partners was Barnes referring to? The arrests, conducted in collaboration with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, were part of a Department of Justice effort called Operation Take Back America established in a Trump executive order whose primary purpose is “Repelling the Invasion of Illegal Immigration.” All 10 people arrested in the operation have Hispanic surnames.
Trump’s order, according to the press release for which Barnes provided a quote, is “a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.” In addition to focusing on “Transnational Criminal organizations… such as Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13 ),” the order expresses support for “bringing back the death penalty” for certain drug-related capital crimes.
Court records do not yet indicate what penalties the DOJ plans to seek against the men, who have all been indicted on felony charges in the US District Court of Western Washington. But the Trump Administration’s approach to both drug trafficking and immigration, in general, has been appalling.
In addition to just straight-up killing people on boats and claiming they were “traffickers,” the Trump administration has falsely accused many immigrants of being members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13, including Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador and is currently fighting a second deportation attempt. Operation Take Back America has resulted in thousands of arrests so far, including “1,300 illegal aliens,” as the DOJ put it in a different press release, during a single operation in May.
State law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from participating in civil immigration enforcement—for example, by helping out in ICE raids. Earlier this month, Harrell issued two executive orders on immigration—one affirming and strenghtening the city’s commitment to the state law, and one committing to spend more money on immigration services and ban law enforcement officers from wearing masks to conceal their identities.
Neither Harrell’s office nor SPD responded to our questions about the Operation Take Back America arrests.