Download This PaperSenate Immigration Law Would Disarm Law Enforcement
Testimony Before the House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation Hearing on Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism, Serial No. 109-203, July 5, 2006
7 Pages Posted: 27 Feb 2008
Abstract
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act before the U.S. Senate is described by proponents as a compromise, combining amnesty for current illegal immigrants with stepped-up enforcement provisions. Nothing could be further from the truth. This complicated legislation would, in fact, disarm America's state and local police in the war against terrorism. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks state and local police exercised their inherent authority to arrest any deportable illegal alien. In his testimony to the House Committee on International Relations Professor Kobach describes how the Senate's immigration reform proposal would change all of that. Section 240D would restrict local police to arresting aliens for criminal violations of immigration law only, not civil violations. The results would be disastrous. His testimony further advocates for the importance of physical barriers on the borders in the war on terrorism.
Keywords: Immigration Reform, CIRA, Immigration, Immigrant, Alien, Illegal Alien, Illegal Immigrant, Terrorist, Terrorism, Arrest authority, Criminal, Crime, Fencing, Border, Wall, Barrier
JEL Classification: H56, K10, K14, K40, K42
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