ACLU warns police not to act on (Virginia AG) Cuccinelli's immigration opinion

[pampango]

Source: Washington Post

The ACLU of Virginia warned the state's police chiefs and sheriffs not to follow Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's legal opinion, issued this week, that says law enforcement can ask the immigration status of anyone stopped by police officers for any reason.

The group's legal director, Rebecca Glenberg, wrote to the chiefs and sheriffs yesterday to tell them that Cuccinelli's opinion cites no Virginia law, and that he simply asserts that such authority exists.

Her letter also says that Cuccinelli ignores the recent judgment of a federal district court in Arizona that blocked that state's new law mandating that police inquire about immigration status.

"It is rather astonishing that the Attorney General would encourage Virginia law enforcement officials to engage in practices that have just been enjoined by a federal court," ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis said. "As the court in Arizona made clear only last week, immigration enforcement is a federal function, not a state or local one."

Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/08/aclu_warns_police_not_to_act_o.html

[joeybee12]

1. Can he be impeached?

The guy is embarrassment to everyone except the most hate-filled baggers.

[atreides1]

3. As someone who lives in Virginia

You have my apologies for those asshats who voted for this idiot.

[Blue_Tires]

5. +1

[virgdem]

6. I second that apology...

This AG is an insane moron, voted in by those who don't have a clue about just how insane he really is. God help us all in Virginia - with this asshat, we need all the help we can get.

[HipChick]

2. Several times I've been stopped in Virginia - with the remark...You're not from around here are you?

I doubt I'll be carrying my passport around with me..

[Metta]

4. Fear mongering and making it up as they go along, hoping no one will notice.

Happy karma to someone who has abused human birth.

[FBaggins]

7. Do they answer to the ACLU or the AG?

The group's legal director, Rebecca Glenberg, wrote to the chiefs and sheriffs yesterday to tell them that Cuccinelli's opinion cites no Virginia law

He seems to make such a citation in the very first sentence as well as in a number of footnotes

"It is rather astonishing that the Attorney General would encourage Virginia law enforcement officials to engage in practices that have just been enjoined by a federal court,"

I don't see where he does this. The ruling struck down a provision requiring police to check immigration status in certain circumstances. Her ruling did not (and could not) create a new standard that said they could not check.

The ACLU's response takes entirely the wrong tack. They should merely warn law enforcement that they can expect ACLU legal action if their enforcement actions appear to violate the civil rights of others (racial profiling, etc). Trying to spin an entirely different district's court ruling into a controlling standard that state law enforcement can't even check for federal violations is an incredible over-reach.