A group of citizens is challenging Los Angeles Police Department's "Special Order 40" that prohibits police from inquiring about arrestees' legal status.
Some legal experts said Tuesday that they were intrigued by the anti-illegal immigrant forces' use of a section of the state's Health and Safety Code to attack Special Order 40.The section, which was written in 1972, states that in drug possession and trafficking cases involving a noncitizen, "the arresting agency shall notify the appropriate agency of the United States having charge of deportation."
"This is going to be an interesting issue," said Gerald F. Uelman, a law professor at Santa Clara University.
Special Order 40 is very popular with politicians who crave the illegal votes of illegal immigrants and the future votes of their offspring, but the rank-and-file police officers think the rule is pernicious and would be quick to cooperate with federal immigration authorities if they were allowed to.
The justification for the order is transparently absurd:
But ACLU staff attorney Belinda Helzer said Special Order 40 allows people in the United States illegally to feel comfortable in approaching the police to report crimes.Repealing it, she said, "would exacerbate the fear of victims" of crime "who are undocumented and are already living in the shadows."
They're "living in the shadows" because they chose to break the law and come here illegally. All sorts of criminals "live in the shadows" because of their crimes. Drug dealers and pimps hesitate before calling the cops, too, but should we stop prosecuting them? Criminals shouldn't feel comfortable approaching the police.
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