The Nation: How Local Leaders Can Resist the Deportation Machine

For local leaders looking to move actively on protecting their communities from the damage that could result from possible mass deportations, here’s a must-read from The Nation.

Here’s one excerpt:

“ As critical as these judicial and legislative actions are, the government entity best positioned to protect immigrants from Trump’s search-and-seizure operations will be the local police forces themselves. Police chiefs who are serious about protecting local residents can and should change their own policing practices—beyond ignoring detainer requests—to respect strict Fourth Amendment limitations. This can range from ending stop-and-frisk in all forms, to ending the use of pretextual traffic stops, to restricting the use of available cellphone surveillance technology, to disavowing the use of gang databases. These are not small fixes to local policing practice; they require strong local leadership willing to set new norms that place tighter restrictions on search and seizure. Ultimately, federal courts asked to place Fourth Amendment limits may look to such changes in law-enforcement practices in establishing what constitutes a reasonable search and seizure by Trump’s federal force.”

-JKoh