From The Heritage Foundation:
A loophole for terrorists
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1092.cfm
“A previously unnoticed provision in [the Senate] legislation would disarm America’s state and local police in the war against terrorism,” writes former counsel to the Attorney General Kris Kobach in a new Heritage paper.
Several of the hijackers involved in the September 11th terrorist attacks were in violation of immigration law by overstaying tourist visas. Even when they were briefly detained for violations like speeding, police did not probe their status and did not discover that they were in breach. Had they been arrested, the murders in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania may have been avoided.
After the terrorist attacks, it became clear that if future attacks are to be stopped, law enforcement must do more to arrest and deport those who are in breach of their visas. State and local police stepped up their efforts, doubling the number of arrested illegal aliens by 2005.
But the Senate bill would undo all of this, Kobach reports. If the bill becomes law, state and local police would not be able to arrest anyone for civil violations, which includes visa overstays. “Afraid of arresting the wrong type of illegal alien—and getting sued as a result—many police departments will stop helping the federal government altogether,” they explain.
Congress must remember that immigration and border security reform is fundamentally about national security."
That provision, if true, is deeply sinister. I have noticed that local law enforcement in the border states and other locales have been waking up and doing more to apprehend illegals. So, the evil authors of S. 2611 have covered that with a provision that may be illegal itself!
I am looking to state and local governments to do more to fight the tide, as Georgia did recently.
Of course, whoever does defend sovereignty will be in trouble with the feds.