Although he believes many immigrants are “good, hardworking people just chasing a dream,” Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn stressed the importance of local authority to enforce federal immigration mandates during a panel discussion Saturday.
Curbing illegal immigration would also dismantle criminal networks operating human trafficking and terrorist operations, Waybourn said. Law enforcement must act with urgency, he said, but also compassion.
“I do believe that we have to have a sovereign nation, and then we can be compassionate because, folks, we know for a fact: There are people that hate us, and there are people that want to hurt us, that came across that border and are here,” Waybourn said.
Remarks from the county’s top law enforcement official came during a two-hour panel discussion on “Protecting America’s Borders” hosted by For Liberty & Justice, the political arm of Fort Worth’s Mercy Culture Church, at the Tarrant County GOP headquarters. The panel featured Waybourn; state Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Mercy Culture pastor and founder of For Liberty & Justice; and Pastor Fidel Rostran, who leads Mercy Culture Español.
Panelists blamed President Joe Biden’s administration for what they characterized as an “open border system,” but agreed that President Donald Trump’s administration is doing what it can to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office has the “best working relationship” with local, state and federal law enforcement partners, Waybourn said, adding that “it’s not that way” in major cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago.
During the panel, Waybourn said local sheriffs need authority to “enforce all the federal laws” pertaining to immigration. Afterward, he told the Report he isn’t currently looking to expand his department’s enforcement programs beyond the partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement he implemented in 2017, shortly after taking office.
Under the 287(g) program, sheriff deputies may screen the immigration statuses of arrestees booked into the Tarrant County jail, then hold undocumented immigrants for ICE to detain. The county jail has ICE detainers on about 400 arrestees from 25 different countries, Waybourn told about 30 attendees Saturday.
“Right now, it’s doing wonderful work, the 287(g) jail program is going well,” Waybourn told the Report. “We can look at other programs down the road. I’m not interested in doing it immediately.”
Border security is a matter of not only national safety but moral responsibility, panelists said. They urged pastors to take a stand, even when it’s unpopular.
“There is a demonic attack against the narrative of strong borders so that some of the most heinous and evil crimes can continue to take place in the United States of America,” Schatzline said.
Throughout the discussion, Schatzline warned attendees against trusting mainstream media, encouraging them to forge close relationships with local elected officials and law enforcement.
Pastors must be willing to speak to their congregations about strong borders, Rostran said.
“The biggest thing that we can do is have conversation. The biggest thing that we can do is spiritually lead,” Rostran said. “The biggest thing that we can do is open our voices, use our platforms, and I think that can go a long way.”
Rostran said he grew up knowing many undocumented immigrants, including his own parents who migrated from Nicaragua in the 1980s.
Sharing that his father-in-law was deported a month prior to his wedding, Rostran emphasized that the immigration system needs reform. But at the same time, he said, the country needs law and order, and immigrants must “do things the right way.”
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
