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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 10/09/2003 7:37:22 AM PDT by Sweet_Sunflower29
The next time you get pulled over by a police officer you may be asked for your license, your registration and possibly your green card.
Republicans in Congress are pushing a controversial proposal that would pressure local and state police departments to arrest undocumented immigrants.
Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., introduced the so-called CLEAR Act -- for Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act -- in July. The measure has 102 co-sponsors.
It's no surprise that immigration advocates abhor the legislation, but so do many police chiefs who question whether the measure would do more harm than good.
Tony Estrada, sheriff in Arizona's Santa Cruz County, which borders Mexico, does not completely oppose the proposal, but worries it would discourage immigrants from reporting crimes.
"We will assist all law-enforcement agencies if someone has been identified as being wanted, but we won't go out and look for these people who are here illegally," he said.
Norwood argues that the 2,000 federal immigration agents charged with tracking down the country's estimated 8 million to 9 million undocumented immigrants can't do their jobs without help from hundreds of thousands of local law enforcement officers.
He's especially angered that 400,000 people have been ordered deported by immigration judges but remain in the United States in defiance of the law. That group includes 80,000 undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes, according to federal officials.
"The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement can't find them," Norwood said. "They need help from police officers, the folks who come across these people every day during routine traffic stops and other activities in the course of their regular duty."
His bill, which stands a better chance of passage in the House than in the Senate, would not require local law-enforcement agencies to find undocumented immigrants. But those localities that refuse to cooperate in assisting federal immigration authorities could lose millions of dollars in federal funds.
That could prove costly to taxpayers in most states. Nationwide, 665 local and state governments shared $805 million in the past two years from the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses localities for incarcerating undocumented immigrants convicted of other crimes.
Immigration advocates and civil rights groups argue that Norwood's bill would open the door to racial profiling.
"The knee-jerk reaction of many but not all officers under the legislation would be to demand immigration documents from every member of the community who may look foreign," said Katherine Culliton, a lawyer with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a civil rights group.
She and others are particularly troubled by a provision that would grant local police officers immunity from civil lawsuits for enforcing immigration laws.
Republican Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana, who chairs a House immigration subcommittee, wasn't impressed when he heard the opponents' arguments at a recent hearing.
"This is timely legislation," he said. "Our nation faces an illegal immigration crisis of epic proportions."
But other Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the subcommittee were highly skeptical of the need for such a bill.
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., called it a "Band-Aid" approach to dealing with illegal immigration.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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"He's especially angered that 400,000 people have been ordered deported by immigration judges but remain in the United States in defiance of the law."
So am I.
"The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement can't find them"
Okay, then they need help.
Either enforce the laws or change them.
...400,000 people have been ordered deported by immigration judges but remain in the United States in defiance of the law. That group includes 80,000 undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes, according to federal officials.
"but we won't go out and look for these people who are here illegally,"
nothing to see here, move along now, carry on with your lives, go shopping,
Even easier --- Mexican looking-speaking people who have no legitimate US drivers license or auto insurance. That means someone presenting a California drivers license or some others is highly questionable. Anyhow if they have no liability insurance but a here legally --- deport them anyhow.
Looking at Mr. Norwoods website, he is a real conservative American.
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