OTR drivers, do you know what this is? Do you know who is unloading your truck? I became interested when, about three weeks ago, I was in North Carolina delivering roofing material. Other than the foreman and crane operator, who was White, the rest of crew was Mexican. None of them spoke English. All of them came packed in one van. The foreman told me that these "workers" got paid 1/2 that of "typical" roofers. "I hate this, but the boss has to make money too", he said. These workers, who did not want to be photographed, were illegals. After that, I began hearing on NPR and reading online about this Special Order 40.(Wikipedia) "It is a police mandate implemented back in 1979 by the Los Angeles City Council and Police Chief Daryl Gates preventing LAPD officers from obtaining immigration status from detained suspects. The mandate was passed in an effort to encourage residents who are in the country illegally to report crimes without intimidation." More specifically, it reads:
LAPD Manual Section 264.50 - ENFORCEMENT OF UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION LAWS. Officers shall not initiate police action where the objective is to discover the alien status of a person. Officers shall neither arrest nor book persons for violation of Title 8, Section 1325 of the United States Immigration Code (Illegal Entry).
LAPD Manual Section 675.35 - PLACEMENT AND DISPOSITION OF ILLEGAL ENTRY HOLDS. Supplemental holds charging illegal entry against persons in the custody of this Department for an unrelated criminal offense shall only be authorized by officers of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Arrestees against whom the INS has placed a hold shall be released to the custody of INS within 24 hours after: All local charges are dismissed; or bail is deposited on the local charges; or the arrestee is determined to be eligible for release on his/her own recognizance on the local charges.
LAPD Manual Section 390 - Undocumented alien status in itself is not a matter for police action. It is, therefore, incumbent upon all employees of this Department to make a personal commitment to equal enforcement of the law and service to the public regardless of alien status. In addition, the Department will provide special assistance to persons, groups, communities and businesses who, by the nature of the crimes being committed upon them, require individualized services. Since undocumented aliens, because of their status, are often more vulnerable to victimization, crime prevention assistance will be offered to assist them in safeguarding their property and to lessen their potential to be crime victims.
There are similar "mandates" affecting how other major cities law enforcement officers do their jobs. Los Angeles is known as a "sanctuary" city, along with 32 others, like Detroit, Houston and New York. More on this topic in future posts. In the interim, I invite you to read more here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312897,00.html and http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/04/sanctuary/ and http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-40on40,0,1095713,full.story and http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2008/04/finding-the-rea.html The photo is by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericasimone/302300458/
