The Border Patrol is apparently coming to Louisiana.
In an email, Attorney General Liz Murrill signaled that the federal agency and its officers will soon be on the ground in the state.
“Louisiana fully supports U.S. Border Patrol and ICE, and all their agents who are rapidly making our State and country safer by taking criminal illegal aliens off of the streets and back to where they belong," Murrill said in her statement. "State law prohibits interfering with federal immigration enforcement - and I fully expect that all law enforcement and local officials will not obstruct federal authorities and will enforce state law to protect people and property."
Murrill closed her statement by doubling down on her support for federal immigration officials.
"I support ICE operations that ensure violent criminals are removed and ensure legal immigration policies are respected and followed."
One analyst says this is less about law enforcement than it is about political posturing.
"It, of course, has a political intent," LSU political science professor Robert Hogan said. "It's a way to signal to supporters of Donald Trump throughout the state that her office stands squarely in line with the Trump Administration. It's a way to emphasize that kind of connection."
Hogan says the attorney general's wholehearted support for the Border Patrol's Louisiana operation runs the risk of politicizing law enforcement.
"The Culture Wars have come to policing," Hogan said. "I think she is, of course, trying to signal to law enforcement the expectations of the state government."
Hogan also believes Murrill's statement may be a sign she's thinking about her own future.
"I think this is mostly the attorney general pointing out to the state constituency where she stands on this issue, and given that she probably has political ambitions of her own, this is a way to emphasize those things," Hogan said. "It is about where you stand on these hot-button issues, and immigration is something that a lot of people feel very strongly about. It elicits great emotion in people, and ambitious politicians are trying to tap into that where they can."
According to our partners at NOLA.com, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick says she expects to be briefed on what the Border Patrol's operation "this week." Kirkpatrick said she would collaborate with Border Patrol officials, but she noted that she had no control over whether they'd come here.