A Palm Beach County deputy is in the hospital and an MS-13 gang member is dead after a shootout during an undercover drug sting in Palm Beach Gardens, the latest in a trend of increasing violence toward police that’s not likely to improve any time soon.
Local law enforcement officials contend the Trump administration recently announced plans to transfer up to 500 illegal immigrants per month from the southern border to Florida’s Palm Beach and Broward counties to help deal with a massive influx of folks attempting to enter the U.S.
The immigrants, who told Border Patrol Florida is their final destination, will be processed through federal facilities at the Port of Palm Beach and released into a community already struggling with crime and public health problems as they await adjudication of their asylum claims, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told WPEC.
The gang shooting and Trump immigration announcement occurred on the same day, a coincidence that portends violence, homelessness and other problems will likely only get worse in the near future.
The suspect in the drug shootout was a known MS-13 gang member who lived in the Turnberry Apartments, where undercover officers arranged to meet for a sting operation Thursday night. – READ MORE