Delaware’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is advising state law enforcement agencies they are not legally obligated to act as federal immigration officers.
ACLU of Delaware staff attorney Ryan Tack-Hooper said the Trump administration’s promises to cut funding for jurisdictions refusing to enforce federal immigration laws are empty threats.
“And it’s not clear that they will even try to follow through on them, much less successfully follow through on them given recent Supreme Court precedents forbidding them from trying to coerce states into enforcing federal law,” Tack-Hooper said.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Printz v. United States in 1997 the federal government can’t effectively commandeer local law enforcement without violating the 10th amendment, according to Tack-Hooper.
“Then the next question is, if you can’t directly order it, can you coerce it by threatening to withhold money?” Tack-Hooper said.
That answer appears to be “no,” according to the ACLU of Delaware, with legal guidance coming from a recent Supreme Court decision on Obamacare (National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, 2012).
"The court held that Congress could not threaten to withhold Medicaid money in order to get states to expand Medicaid,” Tack-Hooper said.
In a letter sent to state law enforcement agencies this week, ACLU of Delaware also tells police if they decide to act as immigration officers they could find themselves in even more legal trouble.
Most police aren’t fully trained in complex immigration law and the ACLU warns they could open themselves up to lawsuits for profiling or unlawful stops.
Most Delaware police agencies have saidpubliclythey aren’t interested in enforcing federal immigration laws.
