CALDWELL, Idaho — Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue has been an outspoken critic of our nation’s border policies and how they directly affect Southwest Idaho. As President of the National Sheriffs Association, he recently went back to Washington to talk to administration officials about border security, illegal immigration, and stopping Mexican drug cartels.
“It hasn’t happened in over four years,” Canyon County Sheriff Donahue is referring to a meeting he and other sheriffs had with President Trump, his staff, and cabinet members about border security.
“President Trump actually, we’re here with all the sheriffs in the room. He acknowledged the sheriffs, we all stood up and he said I’m always going to be supportive of the sheriffs in the nation.”
In December at their annual National Sheriff’s Association in Washington, Donahue hosted current border czar and former I.C.E. Director Tom Homan. One of the issues sheriffs have to deal with every day is bed space. “Many sheriffs provided bed space for us for a long time, when I was director many sheriffs walked away, we can’t afford the detention standards, we don’t give these standards to American citizens. Why should we do that for illegal aliens at a great cost to the jail Well that’s about to change.”
I asked Sheriff Donahue what his top priorities are at the moment — "My priorities right now mirror that of the other sheriffs in the nation and that’s border security both on our southern and northern borders, our coastal regions," Donahue said. "Border security is part of my platform, national security because you can’t have one without the other and that’s what we are looking for in this country.”
When asked about Mexican cartels, Donahue said, "You should be frightened. The public should be frightened. That’s not to create panic but generations of infiltration of sophisticated complex networks that the cartels have are built in single communities, in every county and state including Alaska.”
Thousands of immigrants come to America legally to work in our factories, farms, and fields. I asked Sheriff Donahue about possible overreach by the government.
“We do need those workers. We do. I have empathy as a sheriff, as a human being, I have empathy. The vast majority of people are looking for a better life. Let’s be honest, generationally, it’s been that way for quite some time. Then you have the criminal element. That’s not them."
Idaho News 6 will continue to follow this important issue of legal and illegal immigration to our state.
