Proposed Bill Lets Local Police In on Enforcing Immigration Law
by Chad Groening
April 7, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Colorado congressman says it's time to stop playing politics, pointing fingers, and passing the buck when it comes to addressing the illegal alien crisis. The Republican lawmaker wants to see state and local law enforcement agencies do more to help address the situation.Congressman Tom Tancredo, chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, says the United States should not be in the business of "in-sourcing" criminals. That is why he is working hard on a bill called the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2003, or the CLEAR Act.
The representative from Colorado says the CLEAR Act, which was introduced last year to address the illegal alien problem, is gaining momentum in Congress. He feels the bill, if passed, would make it clear that state and local law enforcement agencies have jurisdictional authority to enforce the law.
Tancredo says there are only about 2,000 Border Patrol agents in the United States. "That means at any given time, you've got about 650 people on the job throughout the nation, pitted up against the 15 million people who are here illegally and the 500,000 that are already convicted felons who have walked away from the courtroom," he says.
The congressman is hoping the CLEAR Act will effectively get local law enforcement to begin "to participate in the business of law enforcement, including immigration law." He says there are more than 600,000 state and local law enforcement officials who could and should be helping to arrest criminal aliens so they can be deported back to their countries of origin.
Tancredo feels the bill makes good sense. He notes that in the case of a bank robbery, for example, the police do not simply watch the bank robber run off because they lack jurisdiction over a federal crime. "Of course not; they're empowered to enforce the law, and we want them to enforce the law of the land, including immigration law," the congressman says.
At present, state and local police are obligated to secure and maintain public safety by enforcing criminal laws and by notifying federal immigration agents of foreign nationals who have committed a crime. The proposed CLEAR Act would mandate that state and local police investigate and enforce civil immigration laws, and authorize them to investigate, apprehend, detain or remove aliens in the U.S., including transporting them across state lines to detention centers.
