Monday, September 10, 2007

Let local cops enforce immigration laws

Hamtramck plan would limit officers' ability to arrest illegals

A criminal is a criminal, whether committing a burglary or violating the nation's immigration laws. Police officers shouldn't be limited in which criminals they can bring to justice.

But that's what officials in Hamtramck are trying to do, following the lead of Detroit and a few other cities nationwide in forbidding police from enforcing immigration laws.

The Hamtramck proposal would ban officers from making an inquiry about a person's legal status, unless it was directly pertinent to a criminal investigation.

Proponents say the law will lessen racial profiling and eliminate the fear illegal immigrants may have in cooperating with police.

But local police officers are an important component of the war on terror. The major terror threat today comes from individuals who enter this country from other places, often illegally.

It seems an unreasonable impediment to block local officers from inquiring about immigration status, and from arresting those who are violating the nation's immigration laws.

The severity of the threat mandates that all law enforcement agencies work as closely together as possible.

Certainly, the rights of individuals should not be sacrificed to over-aggressive policing. But racial profiling policies and sensitivity training will mitigate abuses of the authority.

Across the country, the trend is for local police departments to work in concert with the Department of Homeland Security to identify and report undocumented residents.

Local officers are the ones most likely to first encounter illegals. They should have the flexibility and authority to enforce immigration laws, just as they do federal laws against bank robbery and kidnapping.

A person who presents a terrorist threat to this country should not be allowed to slip through the cracks because local ordinances tied the hands of police officers.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... /opinion01