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Somebody should read the actual law

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Illinois

In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions accused Illinois and other governments of adopting “the view that the protection of criminal aliens is more important than the protection of law-abiding citizens and of the rule of law.”

At risk is federal funding from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. That’s the same grant at the center of a legal fight Chicago is waging with Trump’s Justice Department. […]

The Illinois Trust Act would prohibit police in Illinois from detaining or arresting a person based on their immigration status or on federal immigration detainer. The Justice Department letter pointed to that language in its letter.

“The department is concerned that this appears to restrict the sending of information regarding immigration status,” it states. [Emphasis added]

Oh, for crying out loud. Maybe everybody needs to read the law, including the Sun-Times.

* Public Act 100-0463…

Section 15. Prohibition on enforcing federal civil immigration laws.

(a) A law enforcement agency or law enforcement official shall not detain or continue to detain any individual solely on the basis of any immigration detainer or non-judicial immigration warrant or otherwise comply with an immigration detainer or non-judicial immigration warrant.

(b) A law enforcement agency or law enforcement official shall not stop, arrest, search, detain, or continue to detain a person solely based on an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.

(c) This Section 15 does not apply if a law enforcement agency or law enforcement official is presented with a valid, enforceable federal warrant. Nothing in this Section 15 prohibits communication between federal agencies or officials and law enforcement agencies or officials.

(d) A law enforcement agency or law enforcement official acting in good faith in compliance with this Section who releases a person subject to an immigration detainer or non-judicial immigration warrant shall have immunity from any civil or criminal liability that might otherwise occur as a result of making the release, with the exception of willful or wanton misconduct. [Emphasis added.]

Aside from the preamble, definitions and some training language, that’s all the law says.

* But let’s look at the preamble, which is entitled “Legislative Purpose”…

Recognizing that State law does not currently grant State or local law enforcement the authority to enforce federal civil immigration laws, it is the intent of the General Assembly that nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize any law enforcement agency or law enforcement official to enforce federal civil immigration law. This Act shall not be construed to prohibit or restrict any entity from sending to, or receiving from, the United States Department of Homeland Security or other federal, State, or local government entity information regarding the citizenship or immigration status of any individual under Sections 1373 and 1644 of Title 8 of the United States Code. Further, nothing in this Act shall prevent a law enforcement officer from contacting another law enforcement agency for the purposes of clarifying or confirming the nature and status of possible offenses in a record provided by the National Crime Information Center, or detaining someone based on a notification in the Law Enforcement Agencies Data Administrative System unless it is clear that request is based on a non-judicial immigration warrant. [Emphasis added.]

* And from Definitions…

“Non-judicial immigration warrant” means a Form I-200 or I-205 administrative warrant or any other immigration warrant or request that is not approved or ordered by a judge, including administrative warrants entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center database.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 2:47 pm

Comments

Why be concerned with the actual law when you’re the Attorney Gener…oh.

Comment by Donnie Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 2:55 pm
Somebody should show this to Mrs. Ives as well. She’s all in on the skewed version.

Comment by ste_with_a_v_en Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:01 pm
Sessions read the law, he just can’t recall it now.

Willful ignorance, fear-mongering amd grievance-peddling are oxygen to professional xenophobes. Always have been.

We’re in a reactionary time similar to the 1920s, when white supremacists and xenophobes had some clout in the halls of power.

Back then, it was the Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Slavs and Mediterranean types in the barrel. Blacks, Asians, Irish, and Hispanics were in there too, of course.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:07 pm
This is either (a) very bad lawyering by DOJ; (b) an attempt to bully IL and jurisdictions into submission; (c) a sign that DOJ really has nothing legally they can stand on to come after IL’s position on immigration; or (d) all of the above.

Comment by Veil of Ignorance Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:13 pm
Sessions isn’t exactly the most credible person in America these days. Maybe he left his copy of the law at that meeting with the Russians he’d forgotten he attended until media reports reminded him of what he’d forgotten when he told Congress there’d been no meetings with Russians.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:22 pm
ICE is going to pursue illegal immigration one way or another. The detainers, which were primarily meant to flag illegals that were arrested or in jail are an alternative to ICE workplace raids. So ironically the Trust act may actual prevent local lawmakers from protecting immigrants

Comment by Texas Red Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:24 pm
Wordslinger -the Roaring Twenties?
Christians had prohibition, so speakeasies were illegal but sold whiskey anyway, and Al Capone got rich in Chicago before he did the Valentines Day Massacre in 1929?
i dont remember “any immigration thingy” during art deco days.

Comment by Team Warwick Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:24 pm
===i dont remember “any immigration thingy”===

Then read a book.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:25 pm
==i dont remember “any immigration thingy” during art deco days==

Really? You don’t recall a little thing called the Klan?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:27 pm
You don’t even have to read the language of the bill to settle this one. The federal government can not retroactively make an authorized grant conditional on the recipient of the grant performing an action which is only within the federal government’s purview. It’s first year con law. SCOTUS has settled this.

Comment by Back to the Mountains Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:27 pm
Team Warwick, like I said, willful ignorance is oxygen to some. You’re obviously breathing deeply.

There’s a lot you don’t know abut the 20s. Close to home, you might want to read up on the Klan/Catholic Immigrant wars in Central and Southern Illinois.

You might want to check to see who was running the State of Indiana in the 20s, too.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:36 pm
I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to acknowledge that the guy at the very top of the pyramid has no clue or regard for the law. The tone is set there. Sessions and others are merely following the instructions they’re being given. The media has to be held accountable for calling these things out. Otherwise this kind of nonsense goes unchecked and becomes self-perpetuating.

Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:39 pm
So how hard is it for ICE to have judges assigned to convert administrative detainers into judicial warrants? Is there a different level of proof needed?

Comment by Last Bull Moose Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:39 pm
Well other than the fact that immigration policy severely limited immigration world wide to the US and banned immigrants completely from Asia not much went on imigrant wise. Of course Catholic Jews and Blacks were welcomed with open arms and burning crosses by the largest Klan membe ship in US history. Indiana home of the start of KKK

Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:41 pm
==So how hard is it for ICE to have judges assigned to convert administrative detainers into judicial warrants?==

Administrative warrants are already essentially unenforceable here following a federal court ruling a year ago. Absent a specific determination of flight risk and other hoops that ICE can’t do.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:47 pm
That Alabama bar exam must be a cakewalk.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 3:52 pm
Why should Sessions concern himself with facts, have we forgotten he is a politician? Illinois is the new whipping boy for the Right with the Chicago violence as a dog whistle for racists, as “sanctuary” state as another dog whistle for racists, and tax-payer funded abortions to stir up the Christian conservatives. We’re the antithesis of Trumpism and, aside from the murders, I’m a little proud of that fact.

Comment by Swift Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 4:29 pm
Q: What did Jeff Sessions and Roy Moore get on their bar exams?

A: Drool

Comment by don the legend Wednesday, Nov 15, 17 @ 4:29 pm