Proposed California Border Police Act
Before I quote key portions of the proposed act, let me just say that in principle, the act is a stupid idea, but not passing the act might be even stupider. When you think about it, we shouldn't need a California Border Police, since the Federal government already theoretically provides such a service. And what's to prevent the California Border Police from being as ineffective as the Feds in stopping illegal immigration?
That having been said, here's selected text from the proposed Act:
SECTION 2 Findings and Declarations
a) The federal government has not succeeded in stopping the flow of illegal immigration into the United States.
b) California is home to almost 3 million illegal immigrants, with thousands more crossing the border every month.
c) The people have a right to expect that our immigration laws will be enforced.
d) Illegal immigration harms both citizens and non-citizen legal immigrants and costs California taxpayers nearly $9 billion every year.
e) Over crowded schools and hospital emergency rooms are two of the byproducts of the failure of the federal government to enforce immigration laws.
f) California’s prisons house approximately 48,000 illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in the state, at a cost of almost $1.4 billion annually.
SECTION 3 Article XXXVI of the California Constitution is added, to read:
SEC. 1 (a) The people of the State of California find and declare that illegal immigration poses a grave and imminent danger to the security of the State and its residents.
(b) Therefore, the people of the State of California declare that the influx of illegal immigrants into the state in violation of United States immigration laws constitutes a state of emergency in the State....
Note that the "state of emergency" language helps to ensure funding availability.
SEC. 2. (a) The Division of Homeland Security Assistance, Homeland Security Program, also to be known as the California Border Police, is hereby established in the Office of Emergency Services or its successor, under the direction of the Director of the Office of Emergency Services or his or her successor, or his or her designee.
(b) The California Border Police shall assist the federal government in enforcing the laws of the United States pertaining to immigration within the borders of the State.
(c) In assisting the federal government pursuant to subdivision (b), the California Border Police may arrest any individual in violation of applicable federal immigration laws, and hold any individual who has entered this State in violation of those laws until the federal government takes possession of the individual.
(d) The California Border Police may hire, train, and deploy sufficient personnel to perform its duties.
(e) The California Border Police may utilize any state or local facility, and construct and operate any other facilities, including jails, prisons, or other correctional facilities, that the Director of the Office of Emergency Services or his or her successor, or his or her designee, determines are necessary to accomplish the purposes of this section....
Actually, there isn't much more to the proposed Act. You can read the whole thing here if you like.
As of this evening, endorsements are as follows:
Assemblyman Ray Haynes
Chairman, California Border Police Initiative
Congressman Ed Royce
Chairman House Sub Committee on International Terrorism
State Co-Chair, California Border Police Initiative
Assemblywoman Mimi Walters
Orange County Co-Chair, California Border Police Initiative
Not everyone is happy with the idea of a separate state police:
Democratic lawmakers expressed concerns not only about the costs of a state border police agency but the federal government's responsibility for immigration issues. "I think what we got to be focused on is really pushing our Congressional members and President Bush to enforce the laws that are the book," said Assem. David Frommer, D-Los Angeles.
Well, this news article may have goofed. The only Assemblyman of record is Dario Frommer. Let's see how he supports enforcement of Federal law.
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