Controversial Wisconsin Sheriff David Clarke confirmed on Wednesday that he would be joining the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), prompting a chorus of outrage from those who say the cop who once compared Black Lives Matter to the KKK is unfit for the job.

Clarke told a Milwaukee radio show that he would be appointed as assistant secretary in the Office of Partnership and Engagement, where he will pressure local police departments to enforce President Donald Trump’s tough immigration rules. The post does not require Senate confirmation.

His announcement comes just a month after a grand jury recommended charges against several staff members at one of Clarke’s Milwaukee jails, where an inmate with bipolar disorder died after he was deprived of water for a week.

Clarke has also been slammed for controversial statements about racial justice activists, in one instance saying Black Lives Matter and the Islamic State (ISIS) were teaming up in a plot to destroy America. He also signed on to a controversial federal program, 287(g), which allows his deputies in Milwaukee County to act as Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents, conducting raids and deportations.

In August of last year, he responded to a fatal police shooting in Milwaukee by saying impoverished communities of color were responsible for the victim’s death.

The Wisconsin-based immigration reform advocacy group Voces de la Frontera said Wednesday that Clarke was “unfit for any office.”
“Trump’s appointment of Clarke shows this administration’s disregard for human rights.”
—Christine Neumann-Ortiz,
Voces de la Frontera

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