Support Needed For Stricter Immigration Control Bill

Chattanoogan.com
March 1, 2006

Authorization of state highway patrol officers to enforce federal immigration and customs laws is crucial to our nation's effort to control massive illegal immigration.

A bill sponsored by state Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, and state Rep. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville, (SB 2426 - HB 3229) would authorize some of Tennessee's highway patrol officers to perform these functions after federal training and certification.

Under federal law, state and local police already have authority to enforce federal immigration laws. This cooperation and the training for it are provided for in federal law, and this state and local authority has been affirmed in every court that has dealt with this issue. Congress passed a bill allocating money for the training, and President Bush signed it. Florida and Alabama already have state troopers performing these functions under state law, and I believe Arkansas passed such a law. Similar bills are in play in many other states.

Officers trained under the program learn to recognize valid and invalid documents and to avoid civil rights violations, among other things.

State and local cooperation in enforcement of immigration laws speaks to public safety, homeland security concerns, and the burdens placed on public budgets by the presence of millions of illegal aliens.

The 9/11 Commission created after the 2001 terrorist attacks reported that lack of communication and cooperation among government agencies was and is a dysfunction that endangers us all. At least three of the 9/11 hijackers had been accosted by local police in routine law enforcement encounters. State and local police are the main eyes and ears in our law enforcement grid. They encounter aliens in traffic stops and other routine situations and cover ground that our federal officers cannot. Since Sept. 11, 2001, arrests of aliens by state and local police officers have been crucial to the capture of suspected terrorists, career criminals, and absconders fleeing final removal orders.

The Norris-Gresham bill has 37 sponsors in the House and three in the Senate, mostly Republicans. A similar pair of bills is sponsored by two Democrats, Rep. Gary Moore of Joelton and Sen. Joe Haynes of Nashville. We urge Tennesseans to support these bills and demand their passage.

Donna Locke
Founder, Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform
Columbia, Tn.
donnalocke@juno.com