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President Chuck Canterbury (center) represented the National FOP.
to keep these aliens, with their off-the-charts rate of recidivism, from severely endangering the cities that give them sanctuary.
“We have a lot of power around this table, and I’m honored to be joined today by top law enforcement officials, members of Congress, Secretary Nielsen and Attorney General Sessions to discuss the very real threat of the very lawless, in many cases, sanctuary cities that are causing a lot of problems in this coun- try,” President Trump declared in his meeting preamble. “My priority is to serve, protect and defend the citizens. We have tremendous people around this table, people who know what is going on.”
Sanctuary for law-abiding citizens
President Trump set the table by quantifying just how grave the havoc being wreaked in sanctuary cities has become. He reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 48,000 illegal aliens harboring in sanctuary cities for assault, 11,000 for other crimes and 1,800 for committing murder and other homicide-related offenses in 2017. And he emphasized that thousands of illegal aliens have been released from prisons in sanctuary cities throughout the U.S.
When he heard from someone at the table that more than 63,000 Americans have been killed since 9/11 by illegal aliens – 12 murders a day – the president was uncharacteristically speechless. Or close to it.
The table itself was more Thanksgiving-like than boardroom, with 15 participants gathering around the president at the cen- ter. To his left, the pain and suffering radiating from sanctuary cities was most evident.
ICE Director Tom Homan explained the struggles his officers face every day, not only in apprehending criminal aliens but in keeping them incarcerated. To Homan’s left, Mary Ann Mendo- za tearfully told the story of her son, Phoenix Sergeant Bran- don Mendoza, being killed in a head-on collision with an illegal alien who had consumed three times the legal limit of alcohol, was high on meth and had driven 35 miles in the wrong direc- tion on four different freeways. And President Graham was next down the line with the evidence of what it’s like to be in harm’s way in a sanctuary city.
As the one-by-one elocutions progressed, some spoke from prepared notes; some, like Graham, spoke extemporaneously. All spoke from the heart. Tom Cotton, the Republican junior senator from Arkansas, articulated what could have been on everybody’s mind.
“Every city should be a sanctuary, a sanctuary for law- abiding citizens,” Senator Cotton decreed.
By inviting Sheriff Scott Jones of Sacramento County, Cali- fornia, Sheriff Butch Conway of Gwinnett County, Georgia and Sheriff Justin Smith of Larimer County in Fort Collins, Colorado to join Graham and Canterbury, the president made a state-
Sheriff Scott Jones (center) of Sacramento County, California was one of three sheriffs invited to the meeting.
ment about what officers are facing. He didn’t want to hear from police chiefs or department leaders who answer to elected officials, but rather from law enforcers who answer to citizens and the officers electing them.
The honest, inhibited discussion proved more than produc- tive from Graham’s perspective.
“Two accomplishments really came out of it,” Graham ex- plained. “We made sure that everyone knew that we’re con- cerned about criminals and not immigrants, and that funding would not be cut off to law enforcement in the sanctuary cities. I felt it was a successful meeting.”
Perhaps nobody knew the tenor and purpose of the meeting more than Canterbury, who has been to the Roosevelt Room on several occasions with this administration. He knew the re- sponsibility he and Graham had in being called to the White House.
“The president wanted to hear from frontline officers,” Can- terbury detailed. “There’s so much hype about sanctuary cities. I think he wanted some two-way communication to explain his position that local law enforcement officers are not walking around asking people for their papers. That’s not what we do.”
The president wanted our members’ views
Attorney General Sessions observed what Chicago Police Of- ficers face in the wake of policing in a sanctuary city. In his pre- sentation to the group, Sessions noted how an illegal alien can cross the border on a Monday, get to Chicago on Wednesday and never be deported, even if the purpose of the trip is to bring heroin into the city.
The president apparently realized the need to have that perspective at the meeting, and so he implored Canterbury to make that happen. Three days before the meeting, Graham heard from Canterbury that he wanted the Lodge 7 president to come to the White House the following Tuesday.
Graham obtained a security clearance over the weekend, and at Canterbury’s request, he kept the visit on the Q.T. Even when he arrived in Washington, D.C. the night before the meeting, all he knew was that he had to be at the White House sometime between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“Normally, I’m not too nervous. This time, I was,” Graham confided. “There were probably other FOP presidents that could have done the job, or with longer service, but I was hon- ored that the president wanted our members’ views.”
As soon as he heard from the president, Canterbury knew that Graham was the right person to represent FOP.
“They asked me for a Lodge president from a sanctuary city,” Canterbury explained. “With the Chicago Lodge being our big- gest and the fact (Mayor Rahm) Emanuel declared it a sanctu-
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