Judges Gone Rogue
by Michael Cutler
Judge embraces “Lawfare” to obstruct immigration law enforcement.
With increasing frequency judges have issued rulings that run contrary to the laws and commonsense.
Nowhere has this become a more serious issue than where immigration law enforcement is concerned.
It has become fashionable for the radical left to bash our nation’s sovereignty, our borders and the notion of our immigration laws. Of course the initial desire to open our border to “free trade” began with Conservatives and Libertarians who saw in our borders barriers to their wealth to be acquired by importing goods and workers from outside the United States.
The increasingly radicalized Democratic Party has come completely unhinged where immigration law enforcement is concerned, creating so-called “Sanctuary Cities” which openly boast that they will shield “immigrants” from immigration law enforcement.
Of course, as I have written in numerous articles, lawful immigrants and temporary (non-immigrant) alien visitors need no shielding from ICE no more than licensed motorists who operate their motor vehicles in compliance with motor vehicle laws need no shielding from police officers.
New York State’s Governor Cuomo has endorsed sanctuary polities for New York State and has referred to valiant ICE agents as “Thugs.”
Shielding illegal aliens from ICE undermines the efforts of the DHS to deter aliens from entering the United States illegally and deter aliens who are lawfully admitted from subsequently violating our immigration laws by overstaying their lawful period of admission, accepting illegal employment or otherwise violating their terms of their admission.
In point of fact, under the provisions of a federal law that is comprehended within the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S. Code § 1324, it is a felony to harbor or shield illegal aliens from detection.
While a growing number of cities and states have decided to adopt “sanctuary” polities, there are some cities that continue to cooperate with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) through the 287(g) program whereby their law enforcement officers are trained by ICE to assist that division of the DHS with the vital mission of immigration law enforcement from within the interior of the United States.
Apparently a federal district judge, Catherine Blake, decided that the “solution” to local sheriffs and police officers assisting ICE in enforcing our nation’s immigration laws, was to order the stay of an illegal alien who had been ordered deported by an Immigration Judge so that the alien could pursue a lawsuit against the Sheriff and his deputies who would dare assist in the enforcement of our immigration laws.
On January 17, 2019 the Conservative Review published an extensive article about this lunacy,
Judge creates right for illegal alien to block deportation … so she can sue law enforcement that provides the infuriating details of the case.
The tactic of launching lawsuits to intimidate law enforcement officers from doing their jobs and local municipalities from enacting laws contrary to their agenda has been the tactic of the ACLU under the concept that they refer to as “Lawfare.” This is similar to “warfare” but uses lawsuits in place of ammunition.
Here is an excerpt from the excellent article Conservative Review article:
Roxana Orellana Santos is an illegal alien from El Salvador who had no right to come to this country in 2005 and no right to remain in this country against the will of the people as expressed through long-standing statute. Pursuant to our laws, Santos was detained by Border Patrol when she broke into our country in Texas and then failed to appear for an immigration hearing. In 2007, an immigration judge issued an order to deport her.
A year into her fugitive life, Frederick cops informally questioned her outside a restaurant on October 7, 2008, after they thought she was running away from them. Upon receiving information from ICE through dispatch that she was here illegally, and then acting on an outstanding immigration warrant from ICE, Frederick sheriff’s deputies arrested Santos as part of their lawful cooperation with the federal government to help apprehend illegal aliens through the 287(g) program, under 8 U.S.C. § 1357(g). It’s part of a law that passed the Senate unanimously in 1996.
The report went on to note:
In a sane country, this would have been the end of the story. Santos should have been deported, pursuant to every statute on the books. But Santos, backed by an army of lawyers from the organization CASA de Maryland, sued the Frederick sheriff for what she felt was an illegal search and seizure and the county commissioners for agreeing to operate under 287(g). After endless motions while remained in the country, the district court rebuffed her claim in 2012, but the arch-liberal Fourth Circuit sided with her a year later. The court created a new right for illegals not to be apprehended by local law enforcement because of their immigration status. Last September, District Judge Catherine Blake ruled that Sheriff Jenkins could be held liable in a civil suit for the acts of his deputies. This allows Santos to proceed with a suit for civil damages. Her attorneys are seeking to milk this small county for $1 million in damages! None of us can sue her for sucking up our resources.
How many members of the law enforcement community will continue to enforce the laws when they know that they or their jurisdictions are never more than one decision away from a massive and debilitating lawsuit?
This is an outrageous example of extortion to coerce local jurisdiction to fall in line with the demands of the immigration anarchists.
There is a long standing question that asks, “Is the pen mightier than the sword.”
The answer to the question depends on who is wielding the pen. We certainly witnessed tremendous damage done to our nation by the President Obama’s pen (and phone). We are now witnessing the damage being done by judges who have decided that as Sylvester Stallone’s character, Judge Dredd intoned in the film by that name, “I am the law!”
The realm of immigration law enforcement now exists in a parallel universe where nothing that would exist anywhere else exists in this magical and treacherous kingdom.
It is a matter of routine that law enforcement agencies work in close cooperation to enforce broad spectrum of laws across the United States. When police departments encounter a person who is wanted for crimes in other jurisdictions or, perhaps, by federal agencies, that they notify the agency that has lodged a warrant in the NCIS database. In point of fact, a significant number of the FBI’s most wanted are initially arrested by local police.
Immigration law violations were treated similarly until recently with local police working closely with immigration law enforcement.
In the 1970’s as an INS agent, I was, involved in such case involving an arrest made by members of the NYPD Anti-Crime squad in Brooklyn. Police officers had stopped a car that ran a red light. The driver got out of the car and attacked the police officer who was at least twice the size of the belligerent motorist. The cop knocked the assailant to the ground and a gun, a 9mm Browning fell out of his waistband. Both men, who spoke with heavy West Indian accents were taken into custody.
In those days I worked in close cooperation with the NYPD and particularly with several of the police precincts, especially the precinct where this occurred. The sergeant who was in charge of that squad called me and asked if I could assist in figuring out who these two guys were. For whatever reason, when the NYPD ran their fingerprints no relating record could be found.
They both claimed to have been born in the U.S. In fact, the driver told me had been born “down south in Chicago.” This certainly called his claim of being a United States citizen into serious question.
I had developed a relationship with the DEA in NYC and although the INS lack the capability to electronically transmit fingerprints to the FBI in Washington, the DEA was able and willing to provide me with that capability. I ran the prints and in the middle of the night I received an urgent call from FBI Headquarters, they wanted to know where the two individuals were, it turned out that they were about to be placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List” for their involvement in serious of deadly bank robberies where they were alleged to have shot and killed several people.
Incidentally, they were both were aliens- citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who had lied about their identities and citizenship.
My partner and I received letters of commendation from the NYPD/FBI Joint Bank Robbery Task Force for identifying these two fugitives enabling them to be taken into custody and prosecuted for their crimes. Today, they are probably still in jail, where they can no longer pose a threat to anyone.
We also lodged detainers to have them taken into immigration custody if they are ever released from prison.
This is but a single example of just how successful such cooperative teamwork can be to protect our communities but could never happen today, especially in New York City.
For the globalists, the bodies of innocent victims are nothing more than “collateral damage” or, perhaps, “speed bumps” on the road to globalism and anarchy.
In all professions those who make bad decision are likely to pay a serious price. Doctors who are guilty of malpractice can be sued, lose their licenses to practice medicine, and even be prosecuted. Law enforcement officers face similar consequences when they act inappropriately.
Judges and politicians must be made similarly accountable.