Nevada Considers Bill to Allow Foreign Citizens as Police Officers (somchaij/Christina Desitriviantie/Shutterstock)
January 27, 2023
By David Codrea
“Nevada is considering a bill that would allow noncitizens who live in the state and pass a background check to serve as police officers amid staffing shortages,” Fox News reports . “If passed and signed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, a former sheriff, the bill would make approximately 140,000 green card holders and up to 15,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in the state eligible to attend police academy and join police forces in the state.”
Foreigners will be empowered to arrest American citizens at gunpoint on U.S. soil. And acting as disarmament edict enforcers should any run afoul of Silver State infringements like registration precursor and private sale-banning “universal background checks,” due process-denying guilty-until-proven innocent “extreme risk protection orders,” and its own “bump stock” ban. With populous Clark County increasingly dominating the vote, look for efforts to step up on the rest of the gun-grabber “wish list,” including gun owner licensing, an “assault weapon” and magazine ban, waiting periods, ending open carry and the like. And anyone who thinks they’ll stop there if they get what they want has not been paying attention.
The larger and more “diverse” Las Vegas demographic, to include Democrat union sympathies with major funding from rope-selling casino owner “capitalists,” was enough to pass Question 1 (by less than 1%), banning even private transfers to family members, and to override the rest of the state. The measure ultimately could not be implemented because the Bloomberg-backed proponents screwed up in writing the law and the FBI would not allow intermediaries to run background checks as it required. But to paraphrase “Republican” Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, they’ll be back.
Actually, his is not a bad story to segue into in order to illustrate how objectionable the move for foreign enforcement on the cheap is. And that’s because, according to the Constitution, Article VI , to be exact, “all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.” In Arnold’s case, he also swore "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen,” in order to become a naturalized citizen . The problem was, he hedged his bets and retained his Austrian citizenship. That he never really meant either is suggested by his ready embrace of Second Amendment infringements.
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The proposed Nevada bill is even more problematic. The foreign nationals have not become citizens and renounced prior allegiances, yet they’ll still be swearing an oath to the Constitution. How does that work? Those deploying them will expect them to enforce our laws, using all levels of force. Including our “gun laws.”
We’ll be expecting restraint from people who do not come from a Bill of Rights culture, but from cultures where the government dictates what privileges it will recognize and what obedience it demands. And they’ll enjoy exemptions “relating to weapons; authorizing certain law enforcement officers and retired law enforcement officers to carry certain concealed weapons and firearms in certain circumstances...” Nevada is repeating what’s already been implemented in California and Utah , we are told. That DACA recipients are included is made possible because of the previous Republican administration.
“Can A Daca Recipient Buy A Gun?” SymboliaMag asks . “The Trump administration rescinded this policy in September 2017. The Department of Homeland Security issued guidance to federal law enforcement agencies on September 5, 2017, stating that DACA recipients are eligible to buy firearms as long as they are legally permitted to purchase them under their state or local laws. The guidance also stated that DACA recipients are not eligible to serve in any capacity with federal law enforcement agencies.”
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Look for that to change. And for more states to employ desperate foreigners willing to as George W. Bush put it, “do the jobs that Americans won’t do.” A persistent meme that’s been present in “gun circles” for decades speculates on blue-helmeted UN “peacekeepers” joining in the effort to disarm Americans on U.S. soil at the behest of the New World Order. Employing foreign nationals in what amounts to a domestic “standing army” makes further importation unnecessary.
Does anyone doubt that if orders are issued to deploy after known purchasers of pistol braces, or forced reset triggers, or “80% receivers” or the like that noncitizen enforcers will balk at the prospect? The possibilities for other scenarios are as endless as the number of “opportunities” citizen cops already have shown us they’ll unquestioningly participate in, as they did in Hurricane Katrina gun confiscations, or just in everyday enforcement of “red flag” diktats.
That seems wrong enough. The thought of a foreigner doing it seems intolerable. What could go wrong with our cities employing what amounts to latter-day Hessian mercenaries, with incentives to follow orders above all else, especially since rocking the boat or blowing the whistle could jeopardize more than their jobs, but also their eligibility to remain in this country? In the case of the Nevada bill, it looks like Gov. Lombardo is going to live up to his NRA rating and endorsement .
“Gov. Joe Lombardo would not sign legislation that would allow noncitizens who are legal residents to become police officers,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports . “It’s very hard to understand how you could enforce violations of the Constitution and take away people’s freedom when in turn you are not a citizen enforcing those particular laws,” Lombardo told the paper.
We’ll see it raised on other states though, count on it. And per the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force , Colorado, Vermont, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Maine do not have police citizenship requirements. And per Police Magazine , “the Chicago Police Department will allow any immigrant with a work authorization from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become an officer. This is also true for many local agencies throughout the state of Hawaii. The Cincinnati Police Department requires only that officers have a pending citizenship application on file with the federal government. Other agencies in the country require potential recruits be legal permanent residents or green-card holders.”
“What’s the big deal?” one forum comment poster asked in a heated discussion on the subject. “They already allow them in the military.” And that’s a discussion for another day if and when the likelihood of disarming civilians arises.
About the Author David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. In addition to being a regular featured contributor for Firearms News he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
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