Thread: Handcuffing Cops

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedc ... /69008.htm
HANDCUFFING COPS
By KRIS W. KOBACH

May 24, 2006 -- THE immigration bill before the Senate is touted as a "compromise" - one that tightens enforcement even as it allows for higher levels of legal immigration. In fact, its 614 pages are packed with anti-enforcement provisions. The worst is probably the one on page 170 - which would disarm America's state and local police in the War on Terror.

One of most important lessons of 9/11 was that state and local police can make the difference between an unsuccessful terrorist plot and an attack that kills 3,000.

In the wake of the attacks, we learned that five of the 19 hijackers had broken U.S. immigration law - and that four of the five had been stopped for speeding. All four could have been arrested, if police officers had asked the right questions.

Police across the nation responded by stepping up their efforts to help the federal government in making immigration arrests. But the Senate bill would stop them from protecting the American public in this way.

Consider 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah. He first entered the United States in June 2000 on a tourist visa that allowed him to stay in the country for six months. By failing to leave at that time, the Lebanese terrorist became an illegal immigrant. (Another bitter fact: He also broke the law by not switching to a student visas when he entered flight school.)

So, when a Maryland state trooper clocked him driving at 90 mph on Highway 95 - and stopped him for speeding - he could have detained Jarrah for the immigration violation.

Had the officer made a phone call to the federal Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) - which operates 24/7 from Williston, Vt. - he could have arrested Jarrah. Instead, he just gave Jarrah a $270 ticket and let him go. The ticket would be found in the glove compartment of the car, left at Newark Airport two days later - when Jarrah boarded United Airlines Flight 93.

Three other hijacker ticketings were similar. All were missed opportunities of tragic dimensions. If even one of the police officers had made an arrest, the terrorist plot might have unraveled.

In the wake of the attacks, the Justice Department announced a legal opinion reminding police departments across the country that they have the legal authority to arrest any deportable illegal alien - and so reminded officers how important a role they could, and should, play in the War on Terror by making immigration arrests.

Departments across the country responded. The number of calls to the LESC by local officers nearly doubled, reaching more than 500,000 a year.

But the Senate immigration bill would limit local police to making arrests only for criminal violations of immigration law, not civil violations. To a non-lawyer, that may sound innocuous. In fact, it would be disastrous.

All of the 9/11 hijackers' immigration violations were civil, not criminal. So police officers would have no power to arrest such terrorists.

And, as a practical matter, the Senate bill would discourage police departments from playing any role in immigration enforcement. Most cops (indeed, most lawyers) don't know which immigration violations are criminal. There's no logic to it: Overstaying a visa (something hijackers from the Middle East are more likely to do) is a civil violation, yet marriage fraud is criminal. Which one is more dangerous to national security?

Afraid of making a "bad" immigration arrest - and getting sued as a result - many police departments would stop helping the federal government altogether.

That's probably just what the author of that particular provision in the Senate bill intended - because many of the staffers who helped draft the 614-page monstrosity are hostile to the idea of enforcing our immigration laws.

Thus, the bill can't be fixed simply by removing this provision, because it is packed with hidden surprises that the nation isn't supposed to notice. And there's no guarantee that we have found them all.

It's simply impossible to place any faith in a bill that was written by people who want to disarm the men and women on the front line of America's defenses in the War on Terror.

Kris W. Kobach, a professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, served as counsel to the U.S. attorney general, 2001-2003, and the attorney general's chief adviser on immigration law.




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Interesting; there's long been a trend towards centralization

Problem Reaction Solution

So, when a Maryland state trooper clocked him driving at 90 mph on Highway 95 - and stopped him for speeding - he could have detained Jarrah for the immigration violation.

Had the officer made a phone call to the federal Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) - which operates 24/7 from Williston, Vt. - he could have arrested Jarrah. Instead, he just gave Jarrah a $270 ticket and let him go. The ticket would be found in the glove compartment of the car, left at Newark Airport two days later - when Jarrah boarded United Airlines Flight 93.

Can't have the ticket writing revenue collectors messing up the ruling governments shenanigans

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