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Council reaffirms Boston refusal to let police become immigration inspectors
By adamg on Wed, 06/08/2016 - 1:15pm
The City Council today unanimously reaffirmed the city's policy against letting Boston police officers detain anybody at the request of federal immigration officials unless they have a criminal warrant.
Councilor Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill) said undocumented immigrants are already targeted and exploited by criminals who know their immigration status and without some assurances they won't be turned into ICE, they will never go to or help police.
"It is not our job to spend our scarce resources that we need for our schools, for housing, for public safety," he said.
Councilor Sal LaMattina (East Boston, North End, Charlestown) said immigrant residents in his district will often not go to police if they're attacked for fear of ICE.
"Let the feds do their own job," City Councilor Tito Jackson (Roxbury) said. "Go to work, do your job, Congress, don't push it down to us." And that goes double for Gov. Baker, he said.
Jackson said the policy sends a message to undocumented residents: "We are here to protect you, we will not turn our backs on you."
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Comments
Shouldn't illegally
entering and/or overstay ones visa be grounds for a warrant to be issued? Only in America is it controversial to enforce immigration laws....
You have a poor understanding
You have a poor understanding of the world. There are a wide range of views from different countries on immigration laws, from how to enforce them, whether to, and whether the current laws are fair. Why does a Cuban who crosses the border into the US from Mexico to Texas (as thousands are now) not only eligible to stay, but eligible for benefits thanks to Reagan, but a person from another communist regime, China, wouldn't be, same for a person from fleeing violence in a central american country.
Didn't think your cunning plan through
How do you put out arrest warrants for people who didn't turn in any paperwork to be here in the first place?
We don't have any way to collect information as you leave, so how do you know if the person left? Are you going to just put out warrants for everyone the day after their visa expires and then apologize to the ones that aren't here anymore?
How about we start with the
How about we start with the ones that out themselves in the media as bold as can be?
If the Feds wanted too....
And I don't think they have the capabilities yet, and it would simply be too expensive, but when you are arrested, you give your info, and you get printed. Part of this info is giving your SS# and saying if you are a citizen or not. This info goes to the FBI/CJIS database when you get automated fingerprints. The Feds get this info and send back a report with that persons actual identity based in their fingerprints. They could see this info, and put out a warrant on that person, or simply come to the station and take them when they are bailed or brought to court. The Feds can't put them in prison, but they could send them back to their country,.
yes and no
That is true and is part of the story that we don't talk about. The panicked desire to have TOTAL SECURITY to protect us from lettuce pickers, domestic help, baby sitters, busboys and lawn care specialists has resulted in a number of security measures that are applied to us as much as they are to undocumented immigrants. Essentially our state-issued id's are being turned into a national identity card. Every police station is now a data gathering outpost for the Federal govt. When you get fingerprinted the data is transmitted directly to the Dept of Justice who shares it with Homeland Security -- all in the name of protecting us from da terrorishts, but of course ALL DATA goes. So even if you get fingerprinted in a case of mistaken identity - your data is now with the feds -- but hey, if you have nothing to hide why complain, amirite?
As far as deporting the nasty ones, the Glob just ran an article on Sunday which revealed that ironically enough there are a number of dangerous criminals that ICE releases into our community -- and oddly enough the whole "let's all work together and share data" seems to be a one way street as they do not inform local authorities when they release actually dangerous criminals who happen to be immigrants, onto our streets. As far as I can tell this seems to be because certain countries will not accept these people as deportees -- Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, etc. It would be interesting to see these numbers as a proportion of the estimates of undocumented immigrants of country X in the U.S.
It's actually not a crime
It is a crime to enter the country illegally, to use forged documents or to make false statements to enter the country.
Simply being in the country illegally (for example, having overstayed a tourist visa) is, of course illegal, but it is not a crime. That's the way Congress enacted the law.
Many people seem confused about the difference between something being illegal versus being a crime. Mailing your tax return late, or using Schedule 40 pipe where the building code calls for Schedule 80 pipe, or failure to renew the registration on your car, or being in the country without a valid visa -- these are all illegal but not crimes. The law's remedy is to force you to comply: to order to replace the pipe, for example, or to order you out of the country. But no warrant can be issued because there is no criminal complaint.
Having a hard time with this phrase
...maybe it's just me, but I don't get this part:
That's like saying it's a giant steaming turd...but it doesn't stink.
Not everything illegal is
Not everything illegal is criminal. Speeding is illegal, but you don't get prosecuted in a criminal court for it.
What's not to get?
What's not to get? The vast majority of laws and regulations do not define crimes:
Have a look at the actual laws: Here's our state law for example: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws
can MSP enforce immigration laws in Boston
How about the transit and environmental cops and campus police?
Oh good, I mean why would we
Oh good, I mean why would we want law enforcement officers and agencies to cooperate and enforce the law?
Pick your law to be enforced
The state law says that it's illegal to sell women for sex. That makes you a pimp.
The federal law says that it's illegal to be here without paperwork documenting your reason for being here. That makes you an illegal alien.
Now, let's imagine a pimp who has figured out that a hard-working hotel cleaning staff employee is here as an illegal alien and says he'll rat her out to the Feds if she doesn't start turning tricks for him on the street.
If she goes to a Boston cop thinking she'll be arrested until she can be sent to ICE officials to be shipped back to Guatemala and in doing so her pimp will get away with it, then what reason does she have to go to the police?
If she goes to a Boston cop thinking that the pimp will be arrested and they'll leave her alone because all she did before being blackmailed was clean hotel rooms, then she's more likely to go to the police.
Would you rather have neither or just him arrested (you can't have both arrested because she'd never approach you and volunteer evidence if she knows you'll deport her)?
The difference is you propose
The difference is you propose a theoretical (tho possible) crime vs one that is actively taking place.
So we stop enforcing laws to protect people from blackmail? You can use your example in no shortage of illegal scenarios.
We do this all the time!
Have you never heard of a prosecutor striking a deal with a lower level employee of some scheme like, say, the mob or Enron in order to get to the bigger fish at the top of the pyramid? In the case of a citizen who comes forward, we actually let them completely off the hook for their crime in order to compel their testimony against the bigger criminal. The city isn't even letting these illegals off the hook. They're just refusing to hold them until ICE comes and shows up to enforce the federal law. ICE could still pick the person up the very next day if it wanted to.
So, in a lot of ways, we already go FURTHER than this proposal when we want someone to come to police and give them criminal immunity so that the bigger problem can be solved instead.
Furthermore, my described scenario isn't "theoretical". It's also hardly the worse case of preying on undocumented immigrants. Some people will kidnap the undocumented person and ransom their life with their relatives. If they don't or can't pay, then they just kill the person and find another undocumented immigrant to kidnap.
https://www.splcenter.org/20101108/injustice-our-plates
Just because someone is an undocumented immigrant doesn't invalidate their lives. They should be able to come forwards to help catch serious criminals that use or abuse them.
Kaz's scenario
Is precisely what's wrong with immigration in this country. Hell, we don't have an immigration problem at all. We have an emigration problem.
When Trump talks about this, I wonder what he means by "build a wall." We have a wall. We have a (expletive) laser that runs the length of both borders, reinforced by existing ramparts and by humans and dogs. We also have a coast guard if they try boats, and an air force if they try to parachute in. We spend a third of our budget on defense, and we essentially get what we pay for.
I'm not Johnny Liberal, but yeah, I don't want the hotel maid being kicked out because she didn't want to be a hooker. I mean, duh. The strike zone for who gets to say is a (expletive) joke. If I were the batter, I would have been ejected for spitting on the plate umpire long ago. We let the Tsarnaevs stick around long enough on welfare to bomb the marathon, but my brother has to marry his fully employed girlfriend to keep her in the States. What a joke.
Seriously?
Would you like Boston Police to have the authority to arrest you if you have mailed your tax return late?
Would you like Boston Police to have the authority to arrest you if you are building a house and the spacing between the floor joists is an inch wider than the building code says it's supposed to be?
If it is an arrest-able
If it is an arrest-able/detain-able offense why should they not?
Why only immigration?
I want everyone who calls 911 for any reason to be screened for warrants, tax delinquincies, unpaid parking tickets, library fines, etc, before sending any help their way. Because it's not about hating foreigners, you see, it's about making sure the law is followed.
Calling 911 wouldn't trigger an immigration check
But being arrested would.
I want everyone who calls 911
Sorry, but I think this kind of government died out with Hammurabi.
Nullification
We fought a war 150 years ago to quash the notion that states [or in this case their political subdivisions] can pick and choose which federal laws they want to follow. Federal law is supreme, and with respect to immigration, federal law completely occupies the field and therefore states and municipalities can't come up with their own laws, regulations or schemes.
Arizona was smacked down a few years ago for over-zealously enforcing immigration laws; this is the other side of the coin.
Not nullification
The city isn't nullifying the law. That would require telling ICE to fuck off if they came to town.
BPD is under no obligation to enforce federal laws.
Million of dollars in federal
Million of dollars in federal funding says otherwise.
They are two completely different things
Arizona got slapped down for attempting to usurp federal authority through its state law enforcement arm. As in every terrible police procedural ever filmed, this makes the feds shout "It's outta your jurisdiction!" and sic the federal courts on Smilin' Joe Arpaio.
Boston is affirming that it has no intention of forcing CITY police to enforce the COMMONWEALTH'S interest in aiding FEDERAL law enforcement to do a job that falls under ICE (a federal law enforcement agency) jurisdiction. BPD is under no obligation to assist the feds, and the fact that the city council even has to talk about this is solely the fault of Charlie Baker, who sees an opportunity to score cheap political points by making declarations he has no legal authority to make. The state can probably compel Mass State Troopers to enforce federal immigration law, but it has no power to compel municipal police agencies.
Can't wait for the first officer to enforce the law
I can't wait for the first officer to be disciplined for enforcing the law after taking an oath to do exactly that, or for the first citizen who arrests a repeat offender on the felony. All citizens can make the felony arrest, although it's discouraged. In the race toward political correctness it seems the Democrats have lost their minds. The Legal Department might want to add some staff, they'll need it.
Aren't you in a coma yet?
Hillary's about to be your president. Boo!
What felony?
To what felony are you referring?
Then I suppose
Local non-federal police shouldn't be enforcing any federal laws?
There's a pretty obvious distinction...
There's a pretty obvious distinction between criminal laws and administrative laws.
Whether we're talking about federal laws or state laws, police deal with crimes. They don't deal with building code violations, overdue taxes, restaurant public health violations, or expired tourist visas.