Writen By: Bilal Abbas, AMHP Chapter Development Director
Maureen A. Sweeney addressed the rising role local governments are starting to play in enforcing immigration law, a function that the federal government has been tasked with. The academic terms this as ‘shadow immigration enforcement,’ since it is essentially for lack of better words, an overtly covert operation, and one that has been publicly acknowledged, but remains ‘under the table.’ She raises constitutional concerns due to racial profiling. The two enforcement agencies carrying out the tasks also leads to a lack of unity in command and confusion in goals and objectives, especially with collaboration leading to sharing of evidence which is impermissible. This is explained as such according to the ‘Silver Platter’ ruling, where federal courts cannot benefit from evidence illegally obtained by state actors. Moreover, an ‘under the table’ nature of practice raises questions about incentives in place alongside ethical ones.
