Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / A Bounty for Immigration Arrests in WV?

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A Bounty for Immigration Arrests in WV? · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: A Wall Street Journal story raises an uncomfortable question about
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  Speaker 1: immigration enforcement in West Virginia. The Journal reports the Doddridge
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  Speaker 1: County Sheriff's Department has participated in President Trump's deportation campaign
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  Speaker 1: since February. Sheriff Clinton Boring told the paper, quote, I
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  Speaker 1: honestly don't think there are any Hispanics that live in Doddridge.
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  Speaker 1: But he also said, when you get an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: get possibly $ 100, 000 for equipment or vehicles, that's a no-brainer.
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  Speaker 1: According to the Journal, Doddridge County has detained two people
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  Speaker 1: living in the country illegally and received more than $ 137, 000
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  Speaker 1: in federal funds. Now, let's separate two issues. People living
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  Speaker 1: in this country illegally are violating federal immigration law. If
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  Speaker 1: a West Virginia police officer lawfully detains someone and turns
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  Speaker 1: that person over to federal authorities, according to the law,
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  Speaker 1: that officer is simply enforcing the law. That's not my concern.
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  Speaker 1: My concern is what happens when we attach substantial financial
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  Speaker 1: incentives to those enforcement decisions. West Virginia has been downed
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  Speaker 1: versions of this road before. Under the old 1931 state code,
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  Speaker 1: justices of the peace collected fees for specific actions. 50
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  Speaker 1: cents for issuing a warrant of arrest or commitment. A
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  Speaker 1: dollar for trial. Constables received fees for making arrests. We
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  Speaker 1: eventually moved away from systems where government officials exercising enormous
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  Speaker 1: power had a financial interest tied down. to individual actions,
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  Speaker 1: for good reason. Immigration itself is complicated. Most people probably
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  Speaker 1: see a difference between removing someone who commits a violent
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  Speaker 1: crime and the waiter, roofer, or laborer who has built
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  Speaker 1: a life here, pays taxes, and whose children may go
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  Speaker 1: to school with yours. We can debate those distinctions, but
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  Speaker 1: this question is more simple. Would we be comfortable paying
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  Speaker 1: police departments more money based on how many tickets they
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  Speaker 1: write or arrests they make? If someone is detained and
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  Speaker 1: federal immigration authorities lawfully want custody, turn that person over,
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  Speaker 1: but remove the financial incentive. Because no citizen should ever
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  Speaker 1: have to wonder whether a police action was motivated by
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  Speaker 1: enforcing the law or by the money.