This is an outrage!

Judge throws out lawsuit against 'Special Order 40'
The slaying of Jamiel Shaw Jr. had put a spotlight on the LAPD policy that prohibits officers from asking about immigration status. A judge rules the order doesn't conflict with federal laws.
By Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
12:05 PM PDT, June 25, 2008

» Discuss Article A judge today threw out a taxpayer lawsuit that sought to repeal a long-standing order prohibiting Los Angeles police officers from asking arrestees about their immigration status.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu, granting a motion from the city and the ACLU, said the plaintiff failed to prove that "Special Order 40" was in conflict with federal laws that dictate the flow of information between local and federal agencies regarding people's immigration status.

Former L.A. Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, left, of Teach Compton was among those at a City Hall rally in which elected officials were urged to fund gang intervention efforts, expand job opportunities and maintain Special Order 40.Uproar over Special Order 40
Ask and deport, family urges
Los Angeles resident Harold Sturgeon filed suit against the city in 2006 in an effort to overturn the nearly 3-decades-old order, which sets guidelines on what Los Angeles police can and cannot do when it comes to asking someone about his or her immigration status.

The order was intended to encourage illegal immigrants to assist police by ensuring them that officers cannot detain someone solely to inquire whether he or she is in the country legally or not.

In court papers, Sturgeon's lawyers called Special Order 40 "essentially a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy regarding illegal aliens." They said the policy restricts the LAPD's ability to share information with federal immigration officials -- a claim that city attorneys denied.

The battle over Special Order 40 erupted recently with the killing of high school athlete Jamiel Shaw Jr. Shaw was allegedly gunned down by a reputed gang member who was in the country illegally. The suspect, Pedro Espinoza, had been released from county jail the day before the slaying.

Opponents of the order, led by Shaw's parents, seized on the slaying, saying the boy would not have been killed had police not been hamstrung by the department policy. The claims were inaccurate because Espinoza had been arrested in another city and held in a county facility, but prompted a city councilman to call for an amendment to the order and sparked overwhelming public debate.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 8192.story