Speech #1090054853

This law has been on the books for over a decade. but was not used until after 911. It is a tragedy we fail to take now advantage of the opportunity this law provides. That agreement allowed for a select group of 21 Alabama State troopers to receive extensive immigration enforcement training and gave them the authority to perform immigration and enforcement functions which resulted in their active communication with the Federal immigration agents stationed in the Statethese agreements ought to be done routinely in every State in America. After the MOU was negotiated and signed. the Department of Homeland Security sent personnel to Alabama to train the first class for a 5week period. I thought 2 weeks was more than sufficient to my way of thinking. A deputy sheriff or city police officer can arrest a Senator for committing crimes in his community. but I suppose we have to have a 5week training before they can arrest somebody who is not a citizen for violation of our immigration laws. They were trained in how to identify fraudulent immigration documents. and in how to work together with federal agents to enforce immigration laws. I strongly believe that the MOU has been the most important step in Alabama in the realm of immigration enforcement. As a result of the MOU. Alabama State troopers have performed close to 200 criminal and illegal alien apprehensions. largely of aliens involved with document fraud. drug trafficking. and human smuggling. and have seized close to $750.000 in drug. document and human trafficking related cash. Because of the MOU. new Federal immigration agents have been assigned to the State of Alabama. dramatically increasing the Federal immigration enforcement presence in the State. This February. DHS announced the Alabama MOU would not only be continued but would be expanded. a second class of 25 State troopers is scheduled to be trained by DHS this October. The MOU Alabama entered into has added to the knowledge and resources available to Alabamas Department of Public Safety and has changed the level of cooperation we receive from the Federal immigration enforcement entities on a daily basis. I am certain the State of Alabama will seek to continue the agreement for many years to come. I am hopeful other States will follow the lead of Alabama so that they. too. can benefit from the cooperative partnerships fostered by 287(G) MOUs. Why is this important? It is important for one reason. We have just over 2.000 federal agents nationwide who are not on the borders of our country and charged with the responsibility of apprehending and enforcing immigration laws throughout the heartland of America. There is no way those 2.000 officers can ever adequately patrol our streets for immigration violators and do a good job of handling these problems. But we have 750.000 State and local law enforcement officers who are on our streets and in our communities every single day. apprehending people for DUIs. apprehending people during fights. apprehending people for other activities that bring them to the notice of law enforcement. In the course of that. they often discover these people are here illegally. They. as a result. should be subject to the enforcement of immigration laws by the State and local officers that discover them. If we have any respect for law In this country at all that is what should happen. but that is not occurring. So how do we get to that point?