A New Kind of Immigration Lawsuit

We have blogged for months about local governments, such as Hazleton, Farmets Branch, and Escondido, enacting anti-immigrant ordinances.  Now we have a claim that a local police department is not doing enough to enforce the immigration laws.  The San Jose Mercury News (here) reports that a new and novel type of immigration lawsuit claims that San Jose (California) have failed to report “suspected” illegal immigrants to federal authorities. The suit challenges a practice of San Jose and many other local police departments. If police were to pursue the immigration status of suspects, victims and witnesses, police claim, they would violate the trust of immigrant communities that they need to do their jobs. But attorney David Klehm claims that police departments around the country must take a more active stance on immigration enforcement.

At least five Bay Area cities – San Jose, East Palo Alto, San Francisco, Richmond and San Rafael – have passed city resolutions in recent months denouncing federal agents’ sweeps to round up illegal immigrants in Northern California.

KJ