News Update - October 6, 2007

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

Immigration Raids Cause Concern for Local Police Caught in the Crosshairs

These past weeks have brought news of immigration raids across the country from New York to Los Angeles. Local law enforcement such as police in Nassau County, New York, have been irritated by the methods and manner of federal immigration officials interacting with them in rounding up suspected criminal aliens. Local police were on the scene as the raids supposedly concerned gang members. Nassau County Chief Executive Thomas Suozzi expressed concern and officers speaking on condition of anonymity expressed anger at federal immigration agents swooping in like cowboys (some actually in cowboy hats) to raid workplaces and places where criminal aliens might be. According to Nassau County Police Commissioner Mulvey, only 3 of 82 people arrested were actually suspected gang members. There is also dispute between federal and local authorities as to whether there was confusion at raids and whether some federal officials drew their guns on local police officers. Mr. Suozzi has called for a federal investigation.

† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2007 Alan Lee, Esq.

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