Chris West, the newly anointed president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, travelled to the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, to join thousands of Trump supporters and loyalists protesting Trump’s 2020 election loss.
West was sworn into his new role on June 26.
Multiple efforts by phone and email to reach Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran regarding West’s appointment, and its potential impact on policy in Bucks County, were unsuccessful.
Danny Ceisler, who is endorsed by the Bucks County Democratic Committee to run for the Sheriff’s office in November’s election against incumbent Republican Harran, declined to comment on West’s appointment.
A Bristol Borough resident, Ceisler is an Army veteran, attorney and public safety expert who worked in the Shapiro Administration.
Ceisler has been a staunch critic of Harran’s 287(g) partnership with ICE, whereby local deputies are trained and certified as “de facto” ICE agents to target and round up those they suspect of being immigrants in the country illegally.
For years Bucks County has cooperated with ICE to hand over those who have been imprisoned for crimes and found to be here illegally, Bucks County Commissioners previously said.
In a May Bucks County Beacon report, Ceisler said “this 287 (g) is going to take deputies away from their important work across the County, it is going to cost Bucks County taxpayers a lot of money and it’s actually going to make our community less safe, which has been proven time and time again by other places that have tried to do this and then pulled it back.”
Harran has repeatedly said his version of the 287 (g) program would not include “raids and round ups” without providing details about how his interpretation of the agreement would work in light of the program’s stated directives, not to mention news reports from across the country exposing what it looks like in practice.
During the Capitol demonstration, which ultimately led to rioters scaling the walls of the building where legislators were in the process of certifying the 2020 election, five deaths, property damage, injuries sustained by 174 Capitol police officers, among others, resulted from the attack.
A vocal Trump supporter, West initially condemned the Jan. 6 riots, but has since “echoed Trump’s false election claims about the 2020 election,” according to Talking Points Memo.
When allegations emerged that he had been part of the mob that stormed the Capitol that day West said “I rebuke every bit of it,” about the violence, attacks on police and the deaths, one of which was a Capitol Police officer,” the Oklahoma City Free Press reported.
Chartered in 1940, the National Sheriffs’ Association is a membership organization which is “a key player in shaping national policy,” its website states.
A map of states which currently participate in ICE programs here.
Six states have statutes in place prohibiting agreements – either by state law or policy. These include: California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington.
Delaware, Rhode Island and Vermont currently have no active or pending agreements, though the federal agency is pursuing opportunities in those states, according to the ICE website.
