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ACLU Urges County Commission to Enact Ordinance Prohibiting Local
Police Enforcement of Immigration Laws
May 9, 2002
Miami ? In a letter sent today to members of the Miami-Dade County Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) urged county officials to enact an ordinance opposing a Justice Department initiative that would give local and state police the power to enforce immigration laws.
In the May 9 letter, the ACLU urged commissioners to follow the lead of city officials in Los Angeles and New York ? two municipalities that have passed ordinances safeguarding the responsibilities of local police to fight crime and protect the community ? not enforce immigration laws.
Last month, the Justice Department leaked a controversial legal memo to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft that would reverse long-standing tradition of leaving immigration matters in the hands of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). If issued, the internal legal ruling would clear the way for local police to be forced to arrest and detain people on suspected immigration law violations.
The ACLU letter to County Commissioners charged that the Justice Department proposal would hinder crime-fighting efforts and "build new walls between the community and police." Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, President of ACLU's Greater Miami Chapter, also said that deputizing local police as immigration agents would greatly increase distrust of police in immigrant and refugee communities. "How willing will undocumented immigrants be to assist the police by reporting crimes, much less testifying about them, if they know the next step may be deportation?" said Rodriguez-Taseff, who pointed out that training for local police officers would add an unnecessary financial burden on an already overburdened county budget.
The ACLU letter was sent by Rodriguez-Taseff, ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon and ACLU of Florida Legal Director Randall Marshall. The letter urged commissioners to "direct the Law Department to craft an ordinance to safeguard our police's crime fighting function," and "to prevent our police from being turned into INS agents and to leave the enforcement of immigrations laws to U.S. immigration officials." The ACLU leaders also submitted draft language to the Commission to accomplish the purpose.
"While we expect local police to cooperate with federal authorities in apprehending anyone, including non-citizens, who are suspected of criminal activity," said ACLU State Director Howard Simon, "local police should not be in the business of detaining or arresting law abiding aliens based on their immigration status."
The Ashcroft plan has drawn ire from local immigrant advocates ? including the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers ? who organized a press conference on April 24 to protest the proposed policy. It has also drawn opposition from police officials throughout Miami-Dade County.
The ACLU letter, along with the ACLU's proposed amendment to Miami-Dade County Ordinances, follows.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Courtenay Strickland, ACLU of Florida (305) 576-2337 ext. 18 or Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, ACLU Greater Miami Chapter President, (305) 960-2236 (office) or (305) 582-1255 (cellular)
