Charles Neil Floyd - Did Washington Put Federal Agents At Risk?

Washington State has cut federal agents off from a key database used during traffic stops and investigations, prompting warnings from federal prosecutors that the move could put lives in danger. Supporters call it a policy decision, while critics say it’s politics interfering with public safety.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd joins the program to explain what changed, why agents relied on the system, and what the consequences could be moving forward.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome back to Lars, Lars and Joe. It's a pleasure to be with you, and I'm glad to get to your phone calls and emails. You know, I have got a concern, and that is that the anti-enforcement folks, the folks who oppose the idea of enforcing Federal immigration laws, have taken this to such an extent that they are literally putting lives at risk. And we heard that directly from Charles Floyd, who is the first assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle. He says this is the last draw. Ms. Floyd, welcome to the program. How are you, sir?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Thank you for having me, Lars. I'm doing well. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

I'm glad to have you on. And then in case I use all three of your names, because I don't want anybody to confuse with Charles Arthur Floyd, because I'm sure you have heard that from time to time as well. So we we won't go there. But it did come to mind when I saw your name and I thought, oh, I know why there's three names. Tell me what what you meant by the last straw when you were talking about the limitations that uh states like Seattle like Washington State and Seattle have put on federal agents.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

So I mean the state of Washington for some time has been essentially trying to eliminate any effective immigration enforcement, and they've been cutting back on databases that we could access and limiting our abilities to actually be able to look at a license plate, look at a driver's license. And for the most part, you know, it's all computer-based, so we've been able to find other workarounds. Um really, you know, this goes back to uh about a two months ago when I met with the governor, the the mayor, and the attorney general here in Washington, and I asked them if there's any way that you know we could find some accord, some way we could work together, any compromise to be able to do some immigration enforcement and not turn into the debacle that we saw in Minneapolis or something. And uh they basically told me no. Um they're not willing to cooperate in in any measure, um, and certainly and then they complained about the fact that the federal government wasn't honoring our agreements to not use the Washington state databases the way they want them to. And I didn't know what that meant at the time. Um but then last week.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

So did they have something in writing that was an agreement you had made, Ms. Floyd?

SPEAKER_00 2:20

No, not not that I'm aware of. I think it was one of these, you know, the the contracts with these um private entities that actually helped the computer searches and stuff like that. I I'm not aware of any agreement that we made, but the the bottom line is last week they cut off access to a system that's called Inlets. It's the um it's the national law enforcement uh trans transcommunication system or something like that. Um so it it basically um when we get a license plate and we want to run it to figure out who the registered owner of the vehicle was, which is something they use at the border to check people coming in, and that's what you know drew all the attention because now at the northern border uh it's impaired our ability to actually see whether or not the person in the vehicle is the registered owner of the vehicle, so we can clear them to come in. Um but even perhaps more disturbing and in the danger realm is that if you know a CBP officer is up at the northern border and they see a suspicious vehicle or a reported subject, you know, that's up there doing illegal activity, they want to stop the vehicle, they run the plate to figure out whether the guy's got any warrants, whether he's a danger, whether he's got you know anything that a national security threat. We don't know. And now our officers are in the position of oftentimes having to go up to a vehicle blind or delay the stop for so long that it can try and get other avenues to figure out whether or not the person is a danger.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Did the governor and did the law enforcement in Washington State explain to you how you were supposed to sort this out and say it's okay to use it and find out if there are warrants or wants or warrants on this person, but it's not okay to use it if the same database indicates the person is illegally in the United States, so that somehow you're supposed to only use it selectively for the right kind of of criminal offenses and not for the other criminal offenses, which include coming into the country illegally?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So I met um with the governor's office, the attorney general's office yesterday, and they said that they admitted that they probably overshot when they set shut down this pathway. So basically, a lot of the um Department of Homeland Security search computers were routed through one um source, one user account, and they they got reports, and this is the way it happened, you know, the under our tax dollars, the Center for Human Rights under the University of Washington is has been monitoring how these systems are used and who queries it. So when they see CBP or HSI or ERO ICE actually show up on the computer query, then they're notifying the governor and saying, hey, you need to shut down this account because they're using it for improper purposes. But they don't know how we're using it. They don't know why we stopped the vehicle. And you know, home set Homeland Security Investigations is probably the leading entity in the country for child exploitation cases, drug trafficking. Um so uh they're basically throwing the baby out with the bathwater because they don't really uh the priority is to shut down immigration enforcement, and if it impacts other law enforcement, then that's just collateral damage.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

I'm talking to Charles Neal Floyd, who's the first U.S. uh first assistant U.S. attorney. I mean, after all, we've had people try to come across on a ferry with a trunk full of explosives. That's happened. And you've got this summer some big events coming up in the Seattle area where you might expect that they would draw some some nefarious attention from bad guys. And and Seattle is so concerned about protecting illegal aliens specifically that they're willing to coll to, as a collateral piece of this, to protect other kinds of criminals at the same time. Because is there any other way to see it than Seattle says it's so important to protect the illegal aliens who are illegally in our country that we have to protect other kinds of criminals, including, I guess, potentially terrorists.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Well, I mean, I want to be fair. They yesterday they said that they were willing to try and find alternative paths for us to be able to operate the border and the people you know looking at driver's license coming across the ferry. But what it what it's what it's come down to, Lars, is that in order for me as the chief law enforcement officer for the Western District of Washington to enforce federal law, I have to go and ask and beg the state to please will you give me access to this so that we can use it for this limited purpose? And that's just not the way to conduct law enforcement. I mean, we we if we're all going to work together to try and commute the community safe, then then why are we having to create alternative paths and beg for crumbs from their table so that we can satisfy the community organization groups or whoever's screaming about this immigration enforcement?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

And by the way, Ms. Floyd, you mentioned this outfit at UW. So this is a civilian non-law enforcement agency that's allowed to monitor computers that are only supposed to be law enforcement data. If they're all concerned about my information or your information, and they're allowing a non-law enforcement agency to that that has a political point of view to look at the use of this stuff? Does that sound legit?

SPEAKER_00 7:24

The state is giving far more access to these systems to community organizations, to uh actually the Canadians across the border still have access to the system. But federal law enforcement, not just in the state of Washington, but this is affecting Washington plates and driver's license nationwide. Federal law enforcement can't run a plate in Texas if it's a Washington plate. So they're allowing other people to have access to this, but federal law enforcement, they're they're greatly diminishing it, and they're doing it for a s a stated purpose.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Unbelievable. That is first assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd out of Seattle. Back in a moment. Sir, thank you very much. I so appreciate the time. You're listening to the Lawrence Larson Show and the Radio Northwest Network.