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Driver’s licenses weren’t the only thing Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate allowed for foreign nationals as the Defund the Police hub notched the “ultimate diversity hire” on the force.

(Video Credit: KSTP)

In Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota, law and order hardly seemed a preeminent concern when rioters burned through the city of Minneapolis after the May 2020 death of George Floyd. Now, after budget cuts and Marxist sentiments have gutted the police force, a legislative change allowed the Minneapolis Police Department to welcome its first noncitizen officer.

During a Thursday graduation ceremony, 27-year-old Mexican-born Lesly Vera became the first “permanent resident” to join the force as the MPD added 11 recruits and 12 officers from outside the department.

Speaking with reporters, Vera, who has lived in Minneapolis since she was four years old, said, “I didn’t see anybody that really looked like me, Latina — I’m sure there was, but I didn’t see that — and I was like, I want to be like them and I want to have that face for my people, that look like me.”

MPD Chief Brian O’Hara stated during the ceremony, “Just as they’re about to take their oaths today, before all of you and before God, I know that I have a sacred obligation to do that all I can for them. I pledge to you tonight that I will do everything within my power to take care of them.”

He also said, “There may be people who question it, but that’s completely ridiculous. There’s like I mentioned, there is a history in this country of people immediately on arrival to the country, enlisting in the military and serving.”

“Somebody like [Officer Vera], who has been here essentially her entire life, absolutely is entitled to protect her community in the same way that anyone else here has, and we’re honored to have her,” he added, asserting, “She should now be at the top of the list when it comes to citizenship.”

Along with Vera, who said, “I was basically the guinea pig,” as The Minnesota Star Tribune reported she became a Community Service Officer with the MPD before the new law allowed her to advance, the force also added their first-ever Somali-born female recruit, Ikran Mohamed.

“This is what I wanted to do, and it was very challenging,” she told the press. “That’s why I’m here. And I want to be that somebody…to be a role model for girls who look like me, so they can say, I can do it too.”

Payroll data detailed by the Tribune explained the ranks in MPD reached a record low of 560 in March, plummeting from 900 members representing the force in 2020 prior to the death of George Floyd who died in police custody. His death stirred nationwide riots while bolstering the Defund the Police movement that found cities turning their backs on law enforcement officers.

While Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) expressed, “It’s moving. It’s emotional. I mean, I talked about the hope in the room, from a personal standpoint as mayor of the city, it gives me a lot of hope. Our police department is looking more and more like the communities that we are charged with protecting and serving,” social media users couldn’t help but voice their concerns about the slippery slope inherent in authorizing a non-citizen to arrest citizens in an American city.

Kevin Haggerty
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