DAYTON — Changes in Drug Enforcement Administration policy could mean an increase in deportations.
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Steven Lucas is the agent in charge for the Dayton DEA.
He said they clearly won’t go looking for immigration violations.
“If we’ve identified known traffickers who are violent or have a criminal history and we know them to be in the country illegally or remove before,” Lucas said.
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Lucas said they wouldn’t do immigration paperwork on someone if it would disrupt an ongoing investigation.
They want to keep a narrow focus, stopping the flow of drugs into our community.
“We are very focused on the narcotic high-level traffickers and the organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco Cartel, who do have a presence in the Southern District of Ohio and Dayton,” Lucas said.
The change in DEA policy comes at the same time as increased focus on ICE.
Some protestors at a recent rally in Dayton told us they think people already here, legally or not, should be treated like family.
“We’re just one big family. If people start treating each other that way, then I think we’d be a lot happier,” Megan Smith said.
Lucas does not anticipate any joint activity with ICE agents, just more awareness of immigration law as they do drug investigations.
“Fentanyl is still our primary focus; it’s the number one drug out there killing people,” he said.
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