To: John Kelly, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
Tell Dept. of Homeland Security: Don't Hire Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke!
Do not appoint Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke to any position in the federal government. Sheriff Clarke is unfit for office and needs to face criminal charges for the human rights abuses and deaths at his jail, not be hired by DHS and given federal powers to continue his racist rhetoric and advance racist policies targeting immigrants, Muslims, and Black people.
Why is this important?
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has announced he will resign to take a job in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Donald Trump.[1] Amazingly, DHS has not confirmed that they actually offered Clarke the job he claims. There's still time to stop DHS Secretary John Kelly from appointing Sheriff Clarke to any position.
David Clarke has referred to #BlackLivesMatter activists as "black slime" and “sub-human creeps,” [2] and has slandered Muslims. [3] He has pledged to crack down on undocumented immigrants, and wants to turn Milwaukee County Sheriffs deputies into immigration agents through the discriminatory 287g program, used by Joe Arpaio in Arizona to racially profile and terrorize immigrant communities.[4]
In a 6-month period in 2016, four deaths occurred at the Milwaukee County Jail under Sheriff Clarke’s charge. One death was Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration after guards shut off his water for 8 days;[5] Clarke later threatened the medical examiner in an attempt to obstruct the investigation into Thomas' death.[6] Another death was a newborn baby after the mother gave birth while in chains; she was just one of more than 40 pregnant women who have been shackled by Clarke’s jail.
Should he join the Dept. of Homeland Security, Clarke would use his new position to continue his racist rhetoric and have a powerful federal platform for advancing policies targeting immigrants, Muslims, and Black people.
[1] "Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke says he's taking a job in Department of Homeland Security," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 17, 2017.
[2] “Milwaukee Sheriff Calls Black Lives Matter Activists 'Garbage' and 'Sub-Human Creeps',” Jezebel, October 29, 2015.
[3] “Sheriff Clarke: Don't Try to Understand 'Sick Ideology' of Radical Islam, Destroy It,” Fox Insider, July 16, 2016.
[4] “Sheriff David Clarke commits to immigration crackdown amid protests,” ThinkProgress, February 13, 2017.
[5] “4 People, Including A Baby, Have Died In A Jail Run By Potential Trump Nominee Sheriff David Clarke,” Huffington Post, Nov. 29, 2017.
[6] “Medical examiner 'threatened' by Clarke over jail deaths,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec. 1, 2016.