Mar 30, 2006 3:58 am US/Pacific

Group Sues City Over Immigration Policies


(AP) LOS ANGELES A conservative group is taking on the Los Angeles Police Department's policy of not asking people about their immigration status unless there's a special reason to do so.

Washington, D.C.-based Judicial Watch alleges in a lawsuit that the department is withholding information on the policy. Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton says the group wants to find out if any crimes are "going by unpunished as a result of illegals being let go because of this policy."

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit as part of its effort to challenge Special Order 40. The LAPD adopted that directive in
1979 to assure the public that the department would not enforce immigration laws.

Fitton says his group is targeting the department partly because Los Angeles and Southern California are the focus of immigration debates.

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