When people ask me about a reading list, I always include the essay by French economist Frederic Bastiat, written in the 1850s, titled “The Law.” It is a great read that focuses on the purpose of the law in society. The bottom line is that individuals cede over their inherent right to protect their natural rights of life, liberty, and property to the government, under the law. But of course, as Bastiat elaborates, the law becomes perverted when misconceived benevolence and legal plunder, and the aims of man in control of the government, take precedence.
Such is the case in a very disturbing episode from the State of Colorado, namely Mesa County, where five Sheriff’s Deputies find themselves being punished for enforcing the law. Understand that a Sheriff’s office is a duly elected constitutional officer, a little different from a municipal police office where the police chief is appointed by a Mayor, City Council, or City Manager. Regardless, they are supposed to “serve and protect” the population and, as law enforcement officers, enforce the law. Well, not so fast, my friends, because in Marxist-led Blue States, they have a different take on the definition of law.
In the State of Colorado, lawmakers passed legislation that was signed into law by the leftist Governor Jared Polis, which prohibits state and local law enforcement from asking individuals about their immigration status. One would think that the State, which we all saw, that has a problem with criminal illegal immigrant gangs, such as Tren de Aragua, would not be a living example of stuck on stupid. Yet, that is the law in Colorado, and cooperation with Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers is discouraged.
So, Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Zwinck, who pulled over Caroline Dias Goncalves of Brazil on a routine traffic stop, issuing her a warning, has been placed on three weeks of unpaid leave, removed from his assignment to a drug task force, and is being sued by the Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Why?
Because Deputy Zwinck shared the stop on encrypted Signal means of communication monitored by ICE agents, who ascertained that Ms. Goncalves had overstayed her Visa in America, breaking the law. She was detained but released on bond. What is even more disturbing is that the Mesa County Sheriff, Todd Rowell, said, “The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office should not have had any role in the chain of events leading to Ms. Dias Goncalves’ detention, and I regret that this occurred.” Talk about poor leadership!
So, the Mesa County Sheriff did not even stick up for one of his own Deputies who was doing what he is constitutionally duty-bound to do, enforce the law. And let me be clear, Article VI, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution is known as the Supremacy Clause, and perhaps Sheriff Rowell and AG Weiser, along with Gov. Polis, and the Colorado state legislature should take a gander and realize that their misguided endeavor to create sanctuary for those in our country illegally is unconstitutional and federal law supersedes their insidious ideologically based agenda of supporting open borders.
I think that Deputy Zwinck and any others being persecuted and prosecuted for enforcing the law should bring a lawsuit against the State of Colorado. In actuality, what the State of Colorado is demanding that they do is to break their oath to serve and protect their citizens. Let’s just ask, for instance, if the person that the Sheriff’s Deputy stopped was a member of Tren de Aragua or a drug cartel, I suppose it is not allowed to question said person.
I recall that prior to 9/11, one of the lead Islamic terrorists, Mohammed Atta, was stopped on a routine traffic stop in Plantation, Florida, where I would later live after retirement. Atta was still in the United States after overstaying his student Visa, along with other terrorist conspirators. Hey, Sheriff Rowell and AG Weiser, we have terrorist cells who have infiltrated the U.S. because of the Biden administration’s open border policies. Gov. Polis and the other delusional leftists in the Colorado state legislature who offered up this FUBAR legislation and signed it into law, did you consider the potential ramifications of your partisan actions?
Once again, we find people who, for whatever reason, do not think about the reason for The Law. And how did we get to the point in America where lawmakers are making “law” that violates the law?
The American Constitutional Rights Union condemns the actions in Colorado that are putting American lives in danger. No one should be apologizing to Ms. Goncalves, who made a deliberate decision to disregard our rule of law. No one should be punishing Sheriff’s Deputies who abide by their oath and enforce the law. And no one who believes otherwise should be an elected official in our Constitutional Republic, at any level of government.
Members of the Colorado State legislature, Gov. Jared Polis, AG Weiser, and Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell should read Bastiat’s “The Law.” Perhaps it will be the grease that will enable them to ease their heads out of their fourth point of contact.
Steadfast and Loyal.
