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Immigration Enforcement By Local Police

By Annie Banerjee

Local Law Enforcement Agents have increasingly tried to enforce immigration laws. Everywhere from Arizona to Texas, local police routinely ask to check immigration documents, and most times do not even understand what those documents mean.

A 256 page report that came out of the Police Foundation today concludes after a year long National research that Immigration Enforcement by Local Police is detrimental to the Core Mission of Local Police.

Very often the enforcement begins as a form of discrimination. For instance when a Houston Police Officer was killed by an undocumented alien, the Police Department started working actively with ICE, to hunt for illegal immigrants. I sympathize with Policeman killed in the line of duty. They are protecting us and risking their lives, and it is indeed very unfortunate. However, the Police Department cannot single out killers based on their race, national origin, color, etc. I am sure at least one Policeman in Houston was killed by a white male. Do we now work towards vilifying all white males? Of course that ridiculous.

Then there is a perception that most crimes are committed by undocumented aliens. The Report by the Police Foundation concludes that, "These perceptions, however, are not supported empirically; in fact, they are refuted by the preponderance of scientific evidence.

The Bush Era of denigrating the US Constitution has ended. Lets return to the rule of law, where every individual has civil liberties.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details

Full post as published by US Immigration Matters on May 22, 2009 (boomark / email).