More idiocy from the socialist illegal alien hugger ACLU:

Flawed directive on immigration

Thursday, August 30, 2007
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qst ... FlZUVFeXky
By DEBORAH JACOBS

AFTER MONTHS of consideration and meeting with countless interested parties -- including immigrant and civil rights groups, law enforcement professionals, and advocates who work with domestic violence victims -- state Attorney General Anne Milgram finally issued a long-awaited directive last week on what role local police can play in federal immigration enforcement.

The directive says that local police must inquire about immigration status upon arrest of a suspect for an indictable offense, and report individuals suspected of being undocumented to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also says that police may not ask witnesses, victims or people seeking assistance about their status.

The directive includes strong statements about immigration enforcement being the primary duty of the federal government, about the counterproductive consequences of entangling local police in immigration enforcement, and about the state's commitment to combating racial profiling.

Nevertheless, for police professionals and community advocates alike, the directive raises more questions than it answers. The problem is what the directive doesn't say.

Key omission

For example, it doesn't explicitly prohibit local police from inquiring about immigration status prior to arresting an individual. This omission gets to the heart of the concerns of law enforcement professionals who have spoken out against local police engaging in immigration enforcement: acting as immigration enforcers makes it more difficult for police to serve and protect their communities. The Major Cities Chiefs Association expressed this sentiment in a 2006 report, stating, "Such a divide between the local police and immigrant groups would result in increased crime against immigrants and, in the broader community, create a class of silent victims."

The directive is also inconsistent; it does not limit local police from making pre-arrest inquiries about status unless they have established a formal relationship with ICE allowing them to act as a federal immigration officer, in which case they cannot make inquiries unless and until an arrest takes place. This has inspired the Morristown mayor (whose efforts to have town police officers deputized brought this issue to the forefront) to threaten to have local police start asking for the immigration status of everyone stopped for ticketing.

'Reason to believe'

The directive requires that police notify ICE when they have "reason to believe" that an arrested individual may be undocumented. The directive does not indicate what information should be used, or standards applied, in forming that belief.

This lack of guidance increases the potential for racial profiling or discrimination.

The directive boasts that "New Jersey has taken a leadership position in eliminating racially-influenced policing, or racial profiling." This is hardly the case; most actions that the state has taken have been forced upon it, such as the public demanding hearings, or the federal government requiring a consent decree.

Finally, even the section of the directive that seeks to protect witnesses and victims raises issues. In many incidents and disputes, including domestic violence situations, it's not always clear who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, potentially leaving police unable to comply with the directive.

The directive falls short of what New Jersey police departments need to guide policies and practices on involvement with questions of immigration status. Rather than providing sound and clear policies that would spare hundreds New Jersey towns and cities from hashing these issues out, this directive muddies the water by offering incomplete and inconsistent guidance.

Before this issue further inflames towns like Morristown and cities like Newark, the attorney general should revise her first directive to make it right.

Deborah Jacobs is executive director of the New Jersey branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.