Sheriff Hanson on MS-13 in Omaha

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vordy's Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson back here on
eleven ten, Kfab Sheriff, good.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Morning, Good morning, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yeah, it was It looked to me I recognized some
of the uniforms as we saw the video of the
arrest of this MS, these MS thirteen gang members and
then leading him into a correctional facility. I was like,
this doesn't look like Ice necessarily doing this. This looked

(00:29):
like some of your guys. Was this some of the
Douglas Kenny Sheriff's office work and apprehending these guys, Well.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
I'm not sure if we had members of DCSO actually
involved in the secondary arrest, but definitely the initial contact
the traffic stop right which led federal investigators to Rene
Escobar Choo, that was a result of hard work in
Douglas Kenny Sheriff's office, deputy.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
That was the first name that was released. They've since
released the name of the second guy who was on
the L. Salvador Most Wanted list, wanted for, among other things,
five murders in that country. Both these guys' affiliations with
a noted terrorist organization MS thirteen, a central American gang.
Can you give us as much timeline as possible about

(01:13):
how the arrests were made.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Sure, let's look back about what MS thirteen is. So
back when L. Salvador was involved in a civil war,
there was a lot of refugees we're talking decades ago
that came to the US and many of them immigrated
to the Los Angeles area.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
And so.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
The MS thirteen Mara Salvatricia thirteen thirteen stands for Mexican
Mafia MA letter M in the alphabet. They created the
street gang in LA in order to protect many of
these young people from other rival gangs in La. Once
the civil war in L. Salvador subsided, you saw deportations

(01:55):
of people. Either people had committed crimes or their refugee
status had seen and they went back to L.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Salvador.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
So then you had MS thirteen originated from the streets
of La, now deeply ingrained in L. Salvador. For many
individuals that have been deported back there, we know MS thirteen.
Not only have they been deemed a terrorist organization by
the federal government and the nation of L. Salvador has
really made some big strides over the last few years

(02:25):
under their new President in combating them. But we've seen
MS thirteen continue to have a pervasive existence and presence
in the United States. If you look at these two
individuals that were taken into custody a few days ago,
I mean, we're not just talking drug dealers. We're talking
human traffickers. We're talking shot collars, people that have either

(02:47):
directly murdered people in L. Salvador or have ordered the
murders of people in L. Salvador. And I for one,
very happy that someday my family would avoid sitting in
a restaurant that maybe these folks might have been at
in Omaha, in Douglas County and found themselves in the

(03:07):
crosshairs of a gang war. Maybe some rival made it
come to Omaha to come find them. So we're better
off getting these folks off our streets.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I want to come back to that point here the
arrest itself, though we're hearing that it was a tip
to the Nebraska Fusion Line. Governor Pillen was with us
a couple of hours ago and said, it's run by
the Nebraska State Patrol and we have these in all
fifty states, and someone had tipped off authorities. Hey, these

(03:36):
are some guys you might want to be interested in.
And then it sounds like it was a license plate
scanner run by some of your guys with the Douglas
County Sheriff's Office that pulled that vehicle over.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Is is that correct?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
That's correct? So the tip I'm assuming that tip was
essentially our contact, our Douglas County Deputy, our Canine Deputy
Deputy Baber and his partner, Canine Jing. They were conducting
interstate criminal interdiction on I eighty and conducted a traffic
stop on a blue Ford F one fifty pickup truck
ID eastpend of forty second Street ten PM on July sixth.

(04:13):
During that contact, Deputy Baber became suspicious of this individual
in his story he was from Texas at a Texas
ID and decided to do some extra checks. He checked
with a database called EPIC El Paso Intelligence Center, and
that EPIC check came back with an affirmative hit that

(04:37):
this individual was a known MS thirteen gang member connected
to a terrorist organization. Immediately then, Deputy Baber made contacts
in the federal government and that set off a series
of events that ultimately culminated in Renee Escobara Choa's arrest

(04:58):
a few days later with with the HSI and ICE,
but then also his boss, the actual kingpin of MS thirteen,
who had been living in Omaha for some time. The
license plate reader component came in once Deputy Baber had
to release him. There was no warrant. Deputy Baber is

(05:19):
not a federal agent, and there was no legal means
for us to take him into custody at that time.
That's where the fusion center comes in. That tip goes
to the fusion center, the State Patrol. Fusion Center then
coordinates with all the other federal agencies. They went back
to our agency, checked with the license plate reader data,
which indicated that vehicle had been in Omaha for sometime,

(05:40):
and ultimately helped us narrow in on their location so
they could be taken into custody safely.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
So your guy gets another MS thirteen gang member just
a few days before this one, right, and what he
turns over and says, hey, I can give up some
names here.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
I know where these guys.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, I don't know if I don't think there was
any cooperation on that part. I'm not sure what exactly
happened there, but I do know that Ultimately, that first
Domino dropping was dougas kind of Shriff's Deputy Baber and
his canine stopping that initial pickup truck on July sixth,
with Renee Escobarachoa driving, and then the investigation that that

(06:24):
kicked off as a result of that intel the LPR
data resulted in the secondary rest. I think they were
both taken into custody on the same day.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
So let me make sure I have this right on
July sixth, because the MS thirteen arrest took place two
mornings ago on the ninth, that's correct. One of the
guys who was arrested two days ago was one of
those that was originally in the car two days before that,
three days before that.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Correct, he was the driver of the vehicle that Deputy
Baber had stopped at ten pm on July sixth. But again,
there are many no unfortunately, many known terrorists, many known
threats in our nation. You're both nationally and locally. But
that's different than having an active warrant. You need an

(07:11):
active warrant or probably cause of a crime to take
them into custody. That's why the intel sharing through the
Fusion Center is so important because Fusion centers take the
information from local law enforcement and disseminate it to federal
and state or vice versa, depending on the issue. I
can tell you just this morning, I woke up and
reviewed the overnight briefings, and yet again I can't go

(07:34):
into details on what it was, but our license plate
readers in western Douglas County picked up on another vehicle
that is of great interest, just randomly, even though a
national level investigation picked up a vehicle of interest in
Western Douglas County. So this technology is so valuable.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
You came in here, I had one hundred questions for you.
After that, I have got five thousand questions for you.
I hope you got some time for us this morning.
All right, I want to come back here with Douglas
County Sheriff Aaron Hanson in two minutes, and we'll start
off with the license plate reader technology that he's talking
about here, and then we'll get more with you know,
potentially how many international gang members are living right here

(08:19):
in our community. More with Sheriff Hanson. Next Scott for
Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson in the studio with us here,
and you talked about how I was a paying off
a license plate reader that eventually led to the arrest
of these MS thirteen terrorist gang members, including.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
One on an L.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Salvador most wanted list for five murders in that country,
and they were arrested here in Omaha this past week.
And you credited license plate scanners. It's a little controversial
of an issue. Some people say that's illegal. You guys
shouldn't have these things. And you know, if I'm not
doing anything wrong, you have no reason to scan my
plate and see if I got a warrant from my
arrest or unpaid parking tickets or whatever. Talk about those

(09:00):
scanners and why you think it's important for law enforcement
to be able to utilize them.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Douglas gun A Sheriff's Office was one of the first
major agencies in this part of the state, in this
region to implement license plate reader cameras across unincorporated Douglas County.
We don't have a ton of them. I think we
maybe have twenty to between twenty and twenty five in
various locations. But they are legal. They're legally tested, they're

(09:27):
legally proven, they're carefully scrutinized and audited. Any information that
is gleaned from law enforcement on It must be memorialized.
The deputies or the officers have to memorialize why they
queried it. So and there's penalties for abusing it.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
How does it work?

Speaker 2 (09:42):
So, there's a camera that is either solar powered or
hardwired into OPPD power on a pole, and that camera
will take a still shot photo of any vehicle that
goes by. It'll recognize to AI the plate, It'll recognize
things on the vehicle that may be recognizable, like a

(10:02):
sticker or damage or something like that, and then law
enforcement can go back later and it only keeps the
data for thirty days and that's purged. But law enforcement
go back later and query it and say, okay, has
anyone seen this plate? Where has this plate been? Or
how about a vehicle like this with no plate? And
it works well. We've solved homicides for the Omah Police Department.

(10:26):
We have seen our burglary, our construction site theft, and
our auto theft numbers plummet by double digits and unincorporated
Douglas County because it allows us to quickly move in
and identify the suspects and investigate quickly and make arrests
nearly red handed within days of the crime. I'm a

(10:50):
big believer in them, and I was even before this incident.
And this just further typifies why they're so valuable in
modern day policing. And I'll tell you something else. If
anybody doesn't feel comfortable with them, they better get used
to it, because private industry has them. The Oma Police
Department is a real time crime center. I mean they
are tied into private security systems all across the city
of Omaha. So you know, unfortunately may feel invasive, but

(11:16):
these cameras aren't seeing anything that you couldn't yourself if
you were standing in a public place observing or filming vehicles.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
Going back, this is something that you feel as a
necessary tool for your department. I know that there have
been some pretty public battles with the Douglas County Board
that approves at least some of your funding for your department.
Is there an issue right now in funding not just staffing,
but also equipment for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office based

(11:46):
on some of the concerns that a few board members
have had with your department, Well, it's.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
His budget season. The county board, the vast majority of
which are great partners to the Sheriff's office. Good people meanwhile,
care about arch aired constituents. But we do have a
couple of board members that I would I would categorize
them as prickly putting it, putting it kindly prickly with
law enforcement and specifically the Sheriff's office. It's my understanding

(12:14):
that right now in the budget process, you know, the
County Board, they're not my boss. They handle the budget.
It's their job to set the budgets of office holders
into the office holders responsibility like myself, don Kline, Tom
Riley to administer our offices. But the County Board does
have a legal obligation to supply office holders with the

(12:34):
with the budgetary support they need to engage in their function.
And it's my understanding right now that there is We've
asked for more license plate reader cameras because we know
the benefit the crime reduction, the violence reduction, and I
think that may be an issue that is potentially on
the chopping block right now. So hopefully we're going to
continue to educate not only the County Board, but the

(12:57):
public is to why these are so vital.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
There was a letter that was released that was supposed
to be a private letter between Omaha Police Chief Tas
Schmater and you, as the Douglas County Sheriff, and among
those copied on that were members of the Douglas County Board.
I came out in the radio and said, I think
it was a member of the board who leaked it
to the media. I said, which one I thought it was.
If you want to comment at all on the leak

(13:20):
of that letter, you're certainly welcome to do so, whether
there's an issue right now with the Douglas County Board
or have You and Chief Schmater had a chance to talk,
because the content of that letter was such that you
guys have known each other a long time. You've worked
together with the Omaha Police Department. You worked together for
the protection of our community, but especially with a change

(13:42):
into the guard as mayor of Omaha. He said some
things he felt he needed to say per his position
with the City of Omaha, about who gets to do
what around here when it comes to law enforcement. You
chose not to talk about that in the media. You
have an opportunity now if you'd like.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Here's the deal. Tach matter is one of the best
police chiefs in the nation. Hands down. If you're a
police chief of a major metropolitan area and you want
to learn how to engage the public and reduce violence,
than he's your man. Okay. But I think Douglas County
and the City of Omaha we're big enough to have

(14:21):
a strong chief and a strong sheriff. And you know
that my style as sheriff is I take great ownership
over the people in my county, regardless of whether they
live in unincorporated Douglas County or in a city, because
ultimately they're the ones who elect me. They pay property
taxes to support my agency, and if I can help
them regardless of where they live, that's my obligation. I

(14:44):
struggle to tell someone no just because they live on
one side of the block or the other, especially if
they aren't getting the support that they need for either
one reason or another, whether it be functional or political.
And so you know, we get long great our rank
and gets along great with the Oma Police Department. CHUT
chief Smoder and I did have a chance to talk.

(15:05):
We've kind of distilled the areas that he has concerns about,
and we're going to move forward trying to see how
we can remedy those and I think a lot of
it is going to be through enhanced enhanced communication, collaboration
and deconfliction. But I do think there was at least
two county board members that really capitalized on that letter.

(15:27):
And I think you did some pretty good sleuthing detective work.
If you were looking for a job in the Criminal
Investigations Bureau and dcso, I'd probably hire you. I think
your short list of candidates was probably pretty spot on.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
And do you want to name who you think leaked
that letter or is what are one of those that
you describe as prickly on the Douglas County Board.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
I think your top I think your top individual was
Commissioner Marianne Borgson, and I tend to think you're probably
correct either her Commissioner Chris Rogers, I think probably.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Or Commissioner Garcia.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
No.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Commissioner is a he's.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
A very he's a very professional, ethical, respectful peer. I
don't think it came from Commissioner.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
I just lost my job as a private investigator with
the Sheriff's office. But no, but my my number one
was was Mary Anne Borguson.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Well, I'll give you, I'll give an example, MARYONN. Borgson
was one of the chief Commissioner. Marion Borgison from Millard
was one of the chief opponents of a grant that
Douglas County Sheriff's Office had been awarded by the Office
of Violence Prevention from the State of Nebraska UH Crime Commission.

(16:38):
This was this was for a gang kind This was
for Douglas County Sheriff's office. Right now is the only
major county in this area that does not have a
dedicated gang investigator, either full time or part time. Lancaster
County Sheriffs they do, and he's tied in with LPDS
gang unit. County sheriff has a go to investigator that's

(17:02):
a gang liaison gang expert. Even Washington County Sheriff up
north of US, they've got a an investigator that is
at least part time the gang connection piece between the
rest of the gang intel community in Washington County. Dougas
County Sheriff's office, we didn't have one when I inherited

(17:23):
the Douglas County Sheriff's office, we didn't have a detective
on the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We put one on there.
We find a way to make it happen. We knew
we had to eventually get a gang expert in the agency,
not only because you know, for some reason we're interested
in gangs. Douglas County has the highest gang activity in Nebraska,

(17:44):
and that does not stop at the city boundaries. We've
got some of the fastest growing areas in the nation
or an unincorporated Douglas County in that extra territorial jurisdiction
outside Omaha, and many of those crimes, whether they're financial crimes,
property crime, violent crimes, have a gang nexus. That doesn't
even count the fact that we're responsible for criminal investigations

(18:06):
in the courthouse and safety of the courthouse, and corrections
and juvenile and the juvenile detention center. Many times there's
gang crimes. So in this case, Commissioner Mary Ann Borgson,
she was one of the most vocal opponents on the
floor at the commission meeting, saying, you don't need this,
you don't need this, you're trying to duplicate what Omaha's doing.

(18:27):
We're not people elected me sheriff to be the expert
in law enforcement when it comes to county government, not
a member of the county board, and especially not her.
And so this case shows exactly why gang expertise is important.
I mean, think of this. We have Ms thirteen Kingpins

(18:48):
living in Douglas County, but yet a commissioner with no
background in law enforcement led the charge to delay acceptance
of a one hundred and thirty thousand dollars grant simply
because of political headwinds from a small handful of folks
in the community that showed up at a county board
meeting and told them not to approve it. That's not

(19:11):
good public policy in my opinion, and I'm going to
focus on public safety and smart public policy as opposed
to getting in those type of battle royales.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
We have asked Commissioner Mary Anne Borgson to join us
here on eleven ten kfab. Over the years, she has
not gotten back to us. If she ever wanted to
come in here and address this and a great many
other issues, she's welcome to do so.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'd love to debate her in this very room, in
this very empty chair next to me, and that's an
open invitation.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
And now we have that invitation there as well, and
she if she wants to get back to us, she
knows how to reach us. Can you hang out for
one more segment because I want to come back and
do one more segment here on not just the arrest
of these MS thirteen kingpins in our community, but something
particularly about the arrest that got my attention that I
want you to speak to and the number umber of officials,

(20:01):
including a Nebraska state senator, encouraging citizens to get in
the way of law enforcement doing their job because they
don't like the politics of the job that they're doing.
We'll talk about all this. Can you hang out one
more segment? Sure, I wasn't gonna let you say no.
Sheriff Aaron Hanson with us here and we'll get back
to him after a Fox News update.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Next, Scott Boyes News Radio of Levin.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Levin KFAB something about what we saw from the arrest
in the streets, which I guess was we just got
the term north Omaha. Do we know where these guys
were apprehended.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
I don't know the exact secondary, all right.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
So these guys were apprehended here in Omaha and in
this traffic stop, and what you told us earlier this
hour explains a lot. I think about what I saw
in this traffic stop, because in case you weren't with
us earlier, and all this conversation will be posted on
the Vintage of Warheath podcast links got Vorheas page at
kfab dot com. Later today, but Sheriff Janson shared with

(21:01):
us that one of his deputies had pulled over one
of the guys involved in the arrest a couple of
days ago. One of the guys arrested a couple nights
before that. And that's why I thought it was very
interesting that when authorities tried to pull these guys over,
the driver didn't seem terribly concerned, roll down the window,

(21:22):
ready to have a traffic stop that it seemed to
me like he'd had before, and ready to meet these
guys at the window at the documentation. All right, here's
my documentation, and I'll be on my way. Maybe I
get a ticket, I'm not going to pay, maybe I don't,
and seemed really bewildered and surprised when suddenly the officers
were yelling at him step out of the car, and

(21:44):
they're a ways away from the car. Step out of
the car, put your hands in the air, and walk
backwards towards us. And they had to yell these commands
loudly and repeatedly, and this guy was then taken into
custody without incident. It seemed to me that before that
he seemed pretty comfortable being here in Omaha getting pulled

(22:04):
over by authorities. Do we have an issue with foreign
gang members getting real comfortable living here in Omaha.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yes, we do, And obviously I don't want to I
don't want people to conclude that means we don't have
a safe community. We do have a safe community, but
the potential is high. We do know aside from MS thirteen,
we've got a significant Mexican drug cartel presence in Nebraska,
in Douglas County. And again, like we talked about here

(22:34):
at the break, why Omaha, Why Douglas County, Well, look
at it geographically, you go west, you got Denver, You
go east, you got Des Moines, Chicago, you got north,
you have the Twin Cities. You go south, you've got
Kansas City. It's a perfect central hub location for these
cartel leaders, these transnational gang leaders. And we've seen cartel cases. Again,

(22:56):
Douglas kind of Sheriff's office, working with the Postal Inspectors,
you know, made one of the largest seizures of carpentel
in the nation. Actually, the investigation took us down to Phoenix, Arizona.
Why do you have these these pipelines, Well, because they
know Douglas County and Nebraska area is opportune for them.
We do see cartel groups that will function in Douglas County,

(23:20):
but they will keep much of their stash, houses or
organizations or infrastructure out in the rural parts of Nebraska
and operating, you know, under the radar screen of law
enforcement until we capture them. So the potential is real
and we have to take it seriously. It doesn't mean

(23:40):
we're all at risk, but the presence is significant enough
that we need to take it seriously.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, Nebraska, we don't coast one that tourism slogan right
ahead of Nebraska where the Memphis Airport hub for Mexican
drug cartels. So that's that's interesting. With the proximity as
you may the interstates and getting everywhere around here is
like faedex with the Memphis Airport.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
That's another reason why the LPRs are so important, because
these folks are.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
License transit license plate readers.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yes, the license plate readers are valuable because these folks
do hit these side roads, the side highways, and the
major interstates to do their business and to commit their crimes.
And again keep in mind who is typically the biggest
victim of a transnational gang, of a Latin American based
transnational gang. The immigrant community primarily will be the victims,

(24:38):
whether they're documented or undocumented, especially the undocumented immigrant communities
in any community or typically the biggest victims. They bear
the brunt of the violent crime, the threats, and so
that makes it even bigger win for them when they're
removed from their communities.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, I think it's important to point out and highlight
what you said a moment ago, that we have a
safe community even though we have an issue with, among
other things, these transnational drug cartels. Well as we had
Trevor Thrasher in here yesterday and he's former military, former
law enforcement, and he kind of said the same thing.

(25:14):
He's like, if you're not out in the wrong parts
of town, in the wrong times of day, doing the
wrong things, then it's highly unlikely you're going to be
caught up in any of this stuff.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Well, and you ask, and you ask, also that's true,
Trevor's right on that, But you ask, why do these
guys feel comfortable because we've allowed them to feel comfortable.
I can tell you under the previous administration, the presidential administration,
we had individuals that we knew were committing a series
of high profile property crimes, and we had asked the
federal government, please detain this individual once we charge him

(25:49):
with these state crimes and deport them. And we were
time and again told no. And so when you are
a transnational criminal group, or you're in the country illegally
and want to commit crimes, and you go through four
years of not having to look over your shoulder, it's
no wonder that eventually once that dynamic changes, or you

(26:11):
know that, you would feel comfortable to operate with impunity.
They also get to enjoy our constitution, a fourth fifth Amendment.
All of these apply to them as well, whether we
like it or not, regardless of their documented status or
transnational gang status.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
What do we know about how long these guys were
in Omaha and what they've been up to why they
would be here.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, we do believe that one of them, the main kingpin,
I think he had been operating below the radar in
Douglas County for a significant amount of time. We do
believe that the individual, Renee Escobar, o'chia that Deputy Baber
stopped initially in the interstate, the stop that started this
ball rolling. We believe he had been in the area

(26:54):
since around mid June, Okay, based on again based on
license PLA reader.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
Data, and as you mentioned here, they're not the only ones.
What are the public? What do you want the public
to do right now? In order to make sure law enforcement,
including ice, feel safe, has what they need, including your
Douglas County Sheriff's Office has what they need to be
able to combat dangerous criminals of all different stripes in

(27:19):
our community. What do you want the public to do?

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Two things? Number One, if you see something, say something,
don't ever worry about bugging us with a tip that
you think may be inconsequential. Let us determine that and
you can either you can send tips in through Oma
Crime Stoppers through their online portal or four h two
four for four stop. The Sheriff's office also has a
way you can send tips to that's four oh two

(27:44):
four for four six thousand is the DCSO tip line.
We also take email tips DCSO tips at Douglas County
dash any dot gov. But above and beyond that and
having situational awareness and cooperating with law enforcement. We really
need need them to talk to their elected officials. Okay,

(28:06):
as sheriff, the folks were talking about the folks in
the community. You're my boss. I take that seriously. And
the county commissioners they have bosses as well. Everyone in
Douglas County within their district is their boss. Let them
know how you feel about these issues, especially now that
the budget is being debated internally within the county board

(28:28):
and prioritization decisions are being made. Do we fund the
Sheriff's Office and Corrections and maybe fund less over in
these non statutorily mandated items that we'd like to have
their wants not needs. Or do we make sure the
Sheriff's Office and Corrections have everything that they need. They
need that direction from their bosses, the constituents, and you

(28:49):
can do that in two ways. You can go to
the Douglas County Commissioner's website and you can find a
way to email your commissioner directly figure out who they are,
or you can call their front desk at four h
two four four four seven zero two five and ask
to be connected with your county commissioner.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Leave my message.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
I have a few more minutes here with Douglas County
Sheriff Aaron Hanson. I said a little bit of go
at five thousand questions for you. I think I'm down
to the last couple. First one is something that you
might want the public not to do. A response here
to Nebraska State Senator Megan Hunt of Omaha, who has
posted things like this recently here on Twitter. She says, blank,

(29:26):
Ice and anyone who helps them always be ready to
stand between an ice gestapo thug and their target. We
had people fighting with Ice in California on a couple
different fronts yesterday as they were doing what she wants
to see. Stand between an ice gestapo thug and their target.

(29:47):
How much am I allowed to interfere with law enforcement
when they're doing anything here in our community?

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Zero?

Speaker 2 (29:57):
You will go to jail if you do. I highly look.
I respect center Hunt on one level because you know
what she is, Okay, she will tell you who she
is and what she stands for. And on that front,
I really respect that. There's a lot of politicians that
have personal opinions, have private opinions, and they won't express

(30:17):
it publicly because they don't want to face the wrath
of their constituents. So inasmuch as she shares that, I
appreciate the fact that she does. But in terms of
anybody following her advice, you will go to jail, and
it could be federal jail. If you assault or obstruct
a federal agent in the official service of their duties

(30:39):
and the performance of their duties, you will go to jail.
And if that occurs in the presence of one of
my Douglas County Sheriff's deputies, you will go to Douglas
County Corrections. You will be charged with either assaulting or obstructing.
Now that doesn't mean that you can't engage in your
First Amendment right. I spoke with some folks yesterday that
are very passionate about this issue who know how to

(31:02):
protest in a legal way, and I support them to
do that. I would actually I'd put myself at harm
to make sure that they can do that and be
safe while they're doing that. There's a big difference between
First Amendment legal protest, which we need to make sure
we push a balance public policy, and obstructing and disorderly

(31:22):
criminal behavior to obstruct actual law enforcement activities. The second
will not be tolerated.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
So law enforcement's taken into custody. This week a couple
of MS thirteen terrorist gang members, one wanted for five
murders in El Salvadore's on their most wanted list. Couple
weeks before that, down in Bellevue, a Venezuelan gang member,
all in the country illegally. If if you see Ice
taking someone like this into custody and you decide to

(31:48):
run up, you know, as this guy's getting out of
the car and Ice is standing over here, and you
run up and stand between them and their target. What's
to say that this guy suddenly takes this as an
opportunity to get the cover he needs to start shooting.
You could get killed, he kill me what she suggested.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
He could take you hostage, You could get hit by
a car, you could get caught in a crossfire. And
that's not even to mention the fact that you're probably
going to end up getting arrested and being transported to
the same place or somewhere similar to where that individual's
being transport And that doesn't mean that you know. Look,
we want when we say see something, say something that
includes a law enforcement If you see something that you

(32:25):
think is inappropriate. Feel free to be a good witness,
stay in a place that you have the legal reason
to be. Don't involve yourself, but feel free to record it.
You know people do that all the time. If you
want to memorialize what happens to ensure that it complies
and comports with professional standards and laws and policies, feel
free to do that. Don't get involved, and don't disrupt

(32:45):
the act itself.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Finally, we were talking about why al Maha seems to
be maybe a hotbed for some of these terrorist or
gang organizations, drug traffickers, and so forth, because of its
proximity to various interstates relative close proximity to other major cities.
Mayor John Ewing has said, I don't know why ICE

(33:08):
would be interested in Omaha. And before that mayoral election
here in the city of Omaha, you were pretty upfront saying, look,
I haven't talked to Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing about
some of the things that he says he might have
a problem with me about. He went and talked to
a group here and said, well, Sheriff Hanson and I

(33:28):
are gonna have some pretty serious, honest conversations then and
you said let's have him. Now, you know before the election,
that didn't happen to my knowledge. Have you had a
chance to talk to him since.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Well, I would imagine that Mayor Ewing's intent was probably
ultimately solidified in the letter that was leaked to the
letter from Chief Chodge modern to me, I would imagine
that's probably the communications that were intended. But we have
Maryor Ewing and I have had a chance to sit
down and talk leadership team and his leadership team, and

(34:03):
you know, we made it clear that we want to
be good partners. Communication is key. We're trying to find
that balance between understanding that we're a county wide law
enforcement agency with an obligation to all the constituents across
the county well at the same time being good partners
and making sure that we use proper deconfliction and communication,
not the disrupt efforts in other agencies as well. And

(34:26):
so that's something we consistently do in law enforcement, and
it's always a work in progress for trying to make
it better all the time.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Well, he told me after the election that if there's
a dangerous illegal immigrant criminal who is apprehended in our
community who wants to see that person deported. Now, to
my knowledge, he still has not released a statement after
these MS thirteen arrests here in Omaha this week. If
you find that perhaps the City of Omaha is not
cooperating with federal authorities on things like this, or worse,

(34:57):
being obstructionists, I know that you'll let us no.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Well, I'll tell you this. When HSI had the operation
at Green Valley Foods OPD was right there alongside of us,
keeping the perimeter secure, safe with Traffic Control OPD. I
know they are just as focused on working with ICE
if we find criminals, people that are violating the law,

(35:21):
victimizing innocent people in our community, to make sure they're
removed from our nation. So I have every reason in
the world to believe that they're going to continue to
be good partners on that front.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Douglas Kunny Sheriff Aaron Hanson, as always, I appreciate the time.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Great Thank you. Scott Voyes Mornings nine to eleven on
news Radio eleven ten KFAB