IN 1979, then-Police Chief Daryl Gates issued Special Order 40, prohibiting officers of the Los Angeles Police Department from stopping people solely for the purpose of discovering their immigration status.
Twenty-eight years later, the order still makes political sense. In a city with a large immigrant population, many of whom are here illegally, residents are more willing to talk to the police, testify in court as victims of crime or witnesses to it and participate in programs like Community Watch if they know they will not be asked about their nationality status.
What's more, if an officer has probable cause to believe that a person has committed a crime and arrests him, then it is absolutely appropriate under LAPD rules to ask the suspect's immigration status. In fact, not only is it allowed, it is required. The cop must then notify his commander if the arrestee is an illegal immigrant. Information about a suspect's nationality status appears on most booking sheets for arrest reports in the county. This too is a good rule.
In essence, all Special Order 40 does is ensure that LAPD officers stick to the business of investigating crime and making arrests -- and that they don't take on the job of harassing people on the street over their immigration status.
Nevertheless, the order has become a lightning rod for anti-illegal-immigrant forces, which claim that it is a barrier to enforcing immigration law. It is the target of two lawsuits, one by Judicial Watch, a conservative nonprofit group based in Washington, and the other endorsed by the Federal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Coalition, an assortment of individuals and groups who want stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
In its suit, Judicial Watch contends that Special Order 40 violates state and federal law because it limits cooperation between the LAPD and federal authorities in enforcing immigration law. The other suit relies on an obscure state provision that requires local police to report to the feds the names of illegal immigrants arrested on drug charges.
If either suit prevails and Special Order 40 is overturned, it would open the way for abuse. Anti-gang officers, for instance, would be able to use immigration status to have "known" gang members deported even if they haven't been convicted of any crime. You don't have to be an ACLU member to recognize the opportunities for discrimination and harassment based on skin color, beginning with the fact that cops, not the courts, get to determine who is a "known" gang member.
