But this amendment takes a step beyond that. and it does not just talk about making sure we have proper. safeguarded law enforcement activity. It actually breaks the ground of what we have had in this entire country of jurisdictional responsibility for law enforcement in the hands of our various law enforcement authorities. You never find the FBI. you never find the border patrol. trying to give someone a speeding ticket for speeding. You do not find the California Highway Patrol or any other States highway patrol trying to enforce national immigration law. And that is because those are separate and distinct activities. A California Highway Patrol officer is trained to know what the laws on the roads are. to be able to handle situations that occur on the road. A police officer is trained to deal with all the different types of activities he or she may encounter on the streets of his particular city. A law enforcement officer with the border patrol is taught and trained on how to conduct himself and to be able to deal with the situation along the border and in the interior of our country when it comes to apprehending those who might be in this country without permission or those who are violating our Federal immigration laws. But to now break those clear lines of division would have us allow a local law enforcement officer do the work of a Federal law enforcement officer. This amendment does not say that the local law enforcement officer has been trained on the laws of border enforcement or that that individual has been trained to deal with activities involving border enforcement or immigration law enforcement. It is something that for the longest time this country has tried to avoid. Even recently in the last couple of years. we have seen how even Members of Congress here have expressed grave concern in expanding the powers of certain agencies. whether it is the ATF or the FBI or any other law enforcement agency.
Keywords matched
border enforcement border patrol immigration