Research and Policy Library
Forcing Our Blues Into Gray Areas: Local Police and Federal Immigration Enforcement
- Organization: Appleseed
- Date Created: Wednesday, February 15, 2006
- Submitted: Wednesday, February 15, 2006
- Attachment(s): LINK
Appleseed's report outlines the legal history behind local enforcement of federal immigration laws, and outlines why an increase in this activity is a bad public policy decision. Many police departments, local governments, and organizations around the country are opposing increased local police involvement in federal immigration laws.
In light of current proposals to increase local police involvement in immigration enforcement, the Appleseed report recommends the following actions for local communities:
- Increasing local law enforcement's role in federal immigration issues diverts scarce resources from protecting citizens from crime and terrorism.
- In addition, it undermines community trust of the local police. It discourages immigrant community members -- witnesses, victims of crimes, and others -- from bringing forward information about crimes or terrorism. The negative effects on public safety affect all members of a community.
In light of current proposals to increase local police involvement in immigration enforcement, the Appleseed report recommends the following actions for local communities:
- Know the issue and know your community's current policy
- Document the effects of policing policies and educate your community
- Encourage the adoption of policies that set safe boundaries on law enforcement activity
- Let your members of Congress know that you do not want any bills passed that increase local responsibility for enforcement of federal immigration laws
- Know that MOUs with the DOJ, while probably legal, are not obligatory
- Oppose the execution of an MOU with your community
- If defeating the MOU is unlikely, then seek to limit its negative impact
Topics: