The new Dallas police chief Daniel Comeaux issued a blunt three-word warning to illegal immigrants as its ‘sanctuary city’ status came to an abrupt end.
Comeaux delivered a clear message as he took the Texas city’s top police job this week, telling potential migrants: ‘You’re not welcome.’
‘Pick another city, don’t come to Dallas,’ he added.
The lawman was named as the city’s new police chief in April following a 33-year career including time as a DEA special agent.
He beat out interim chief Michael Igo to the top job, after Igo was slammed by Texas officials for allegedly failing to follow President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Comeaux issued the message days after Homeland Security didn’t include Dallas on its list of jurisdictions that it recognizes as ‘sanctuary cities.’
A sanctuary city is seen as one that refuses to cooperate with federal immigration laws, and provides legal protections for illegal aliens to stop them being deported.
Dallas was previously seen as a haven for illegal migrants in the red state, however the Trump administration has threatened to pull federal funding from cities that refuse to comply with his orders.
‘President Trump and (DHS) Secretary Noem have been clear: sanctuary jurisdictions should immediately cease violation of Federal law and cooperate with law enforcement,’ a DHS spokesperson told KXAN as Dallas dropped off the list.
The shift in Dallas comes as sanctuary city policies were effectively outlawed in Texas in 2017 as the state legislature prohibited any interference with state or federal immigration enforcement.
Earlier this year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Dallas and the city’s police department over possible non-compliance with the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Paxton named Igo in an open letter released at the time, accusing the former interim Dallas police chief of telling his police department not to assist in detaining illegal immigrants.
‘The law is not optional,’ Paxton said at the time.
‘Local governments do not have the authority to disregard state and federal immigration laws.
‘The people of Texas expect law enforcement agencies to uphold public safety, not to implement sanctuary policies that put our communities at risk.’
Igo said at the time that his department would not stop anyone for the sole reason of checking their immigration status, but denied refusing to work with federal law enforcement, per KERA News.
It comes as Trump stepped up his deportations targets this week by telling immigration officials to conduct 3,000 arrests every day in an ambitious effort to ramp up his deportation agenda.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said the new goal is only temporary and the number of daily arrests expected under the Trump administration will continue to rise.
‘Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day,’ Miller told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan backed the ambitious new benchmark on Thursday morning, insisting: ‘We’ve gotta increase these arrests and removals.’
‘The numbers are good, but I’m not satisfied. I haven’t been satisfied all year long.’
During Trump’s first 100 days back in office, ICE officials arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants.
More than 65,000 illegal immigrants were deported.
Some 17,000 deportees had criminal convictions or charges ranging from driving under the influence to assault or weapons offenses.