Thread: Appeals court: LAPD immigrant policy can stand

Appeals court: LAPD immigrant policy can stand
The Associated Press
4:44 p.m. June 17, 2009

LOS ANGELES — An appeals court panel has upheld the Los Angeles Police Department's policy under which most people who are questioned are not asked about their immigration status.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeals was published Wednesday. A lower court ruled last year that the policy, called Special Order 40, is constitutionally sound.

In 2006, Harold Sturgeon filed suit claiming the policy violates state and federal law by prohibiting full cooperation between police and federal immigration authorities.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California argued that the policy makes the city safer because residents can report crimes without fear of being deported.

The policy, which has been in effect for 30 years, is designed to build trust between police and immigrant communities.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=118385

LAPD's Special Order 40 on immigrants upheld by court [Updated]
4:51 PM | June 17, 2009

An appeals court Wednesday upheld the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Order 40, a policy governing how officers interact with immigrants.

The three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal unanimously agreed with a lower court’s decision to throw out a lawsuit in which a Los Angeles man had argued that the LAPD’s policy violated federal and state laws.

In place since 1979, Special Order 40 prohibits LAPD officers from initiating contact with someone solely to determine whether they are in the country legally.

Police Chief Chief William J. Bratton and others before him have said the policy is an important tool, as it encourages undocumented immigrants who witness crimes to assist police without fear of being deported.

The judges rejected the claim of the plaintiff, Harold Sturgeon, that the order violates a federal statute, which prohibits restrictions on the exchange of information between federal immigration agents and other law enforcement officers.

They said he failed to show any instances in which officers had been punished by superiors or otherwise discouraged from passing on information.

The LAPD’s policy, the judges emphasized, does not place any limits on the information that officers can pass on to federal agents regarding a person’s immigration status.

[Updated at 5:09 p.m. “The decision today really affirms that if LAPD officers feel they need to maintain that trust with the community, that the law allows them to do that,â€

WOW! These ALIPAC people are FAST! This is twice today someone has beaten me to a posting! I thought I was a news junky!

Good Work!

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Court backs restrictive LAPD immigration policy

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-160127.html