“CLEAR” ACT IS NOT SO CLEAR, Aref Assaf, Op-ed article in the Sunday edition of Daily Record, October, 19, 2003.

It has been a long running story in the Daily Record to cover the plight of the illegal workers in Morristown .  Dover also shares such a problem. Apparently, a reasonable practicable solution seems to evade most fair-minded people. I am afraid that there are politicians who, if not opposed, will want to expand the mandate of local police departments to the detriment of their citizens.

 Congress has just begun to hold hearings on the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2003, H.R. 2671.  Supporters of the act have argued that we need CLEAR to protect us from immigrants who have been served deportation papers, but who continue to “hide out” in local communities, committing violent acts.   What they are not telling the public is that CLEAR authorizes local enforcement officers to prosecute non-citizens for civil immigration violations.   Consequently, CLEAR opens the doors for the random spot-checking of any one (citizen or non-citizen) who police suspect lack immigration papers.

Police departments across the country are warning Congress that CLEAR is not going to improve their ability to track down immigrant criminals.  In fact, it is more likely to have the opposite effect.    Instead of helping police, it will create a wall of silence in immigrant communities that will obstruct any kind of police work that relies on immigrant witnesses and informants.   This will be especially detrimental for immigrant women who are trying to free themselves from their abusers. 

Community workers have known for years that criminals who prey on immigrants keep their victims silent by threatening to have them deported.     Shelter workers can point to hundreds of cases where victims of abuse decide to keep quiet because of their immigration status.  There are also plenty of horror stories where immigrant victims of sexual assault and other crimes come forward only to find themselves being investigated by the police. This is why Congress passed special laws (like the 1994 and 2000 Violence Against Women Acts) that allow immigrant victims of abuse and assault to gain legal status on their own.

By extending civil immigration enforcement to local police, CLEAR undermines the Violence Against Women Act by making battered immigrants even more fearful of turning to the police and government caseworkers.   Moreover, these fears are not just limited to people who have entered the U.S. illegally.  They will also creep into the lives of immigrants whose temporary work visas expired while waiting for their green card and to legal immigrants who have close friends or relatives who are undocumented.  Under CLEAR, all of these immigrants will have some reasonable fear that any interaction they have with local police could result in their detention and swift deportation.    Instead of helping police track down immigrant criminals, CLEAR will only add to the worries of law-abiding immigrants.  It will also create a climate where people who victimize immigrants will have more advantage to keep their victims quiet.   It is not clear at all how this will enhance public safety for immigrants or citizens.  

While the bill's title and the rhetoric surrounding it portray this as anti-crime legislation, it is clearly more than that. The bill actually authorizes police to enforce federal civil immigration laws; it allows police to act as immigration officers. Currently, state and local police are authorized to enforce criminal immigration laws and to notify federal immigration officials about foreign nationals in their custody who have committed crimes but this bill requires police to also enforce civil immigration laws, or lose federal funds earmarked to reimburse them for detaining criminal lawbreakers. To facilitate this new role for local police, the bill expands the scope of the National Crime Information Center database (which is accessed in routine situations by police to identify wanted criminals) to include people who have civil immigration violations.

This bill would impose significant new reporting requirements on these critically under-staffed and under-funded agencies. As it is now, law enforcement departments are stretched beyond capacity and they simply do not have the extra time, money or staff to take on what is rightly a federal duty.

By turning police into immigration agents, the CLEAR Act ensures that more immigrants avoid contact with local law enforcement, putting entire communities at risk. Word will quickly spread among immigrant communities that if they-as victims, witnesses, or concerned residents-have any contact with police, they or their family members will risk deportation. They will remain silent and our streets less safe as a result. Experience shows that this fear will extend not only to contact with local police, but also to the fire department, hospitals, and the public school system.

Who knows better about keeping our communities safe-Congress, or our state and local police?  

Aref Assaf