On the same day and in the same city that the Attorney General of the United States, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, the FBI deputy director and the New York City Police Commissioner were announcing the arrest of a Pakistani born US citizen for an attempted terrorist attack in Times Square, the DC City Council passed a bill to legalize medical use of marijuana (a federally banned drug) and proposed a bill to prohibit the DC Police Department from reporting arrests of illegal immigrants to the US Department of Homeland Security. In the very city where Congress enacts federal law, the city government acted on two measures that permit or require actions in contravention of federal law.
The medical marijuana bill is the result of a DC public referendum passed in 1998 (during the Clinton administration) and action taken by Congress last year (during the current Democratic administration) that allowed the DC City Council to adopt a law in accordance with the 1998 referendum results. During the Bush administration, Congress did not take action to allow DC to pass the medical marijuana law.
The proposed bill to bar the DC Police from informing the federal authorities of illegal immigrants arrested in the nation's capital was, of course, introduced in reaction to the Arizona law recently enacted to permit law enforcement officers to inquire into a person's immigration status when detained or questioned about potential violations of any state law unrelated to immigration status. This means that if an illegal immigrant is arrested for breaking a law in Arizona that the police there (many of whom are Hispanic Americans) may determine that the arrested person is in this country illegally and report this information the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. However, if the DC proposal becomes law, the police in the nation's capital that arrest an illegal immigrant (even if from Pakistan) will not be allowed to report this information to ICE!
This sure seems to be a strange situation, but such are the consequences of the liberal PC world that now rules in Washington, DC.
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The medical marijuana bill is the result of a DC public referendum passed in 1998 (during the Clinton administration) and action taken by Congress last year (during the current Democratic administration) that allowed the DC City Council to adopt a law in accordance with the 1998 referendum results. During the Bush administration, Congress did not take action to allow DC to pass the medical marijuana law.
The proposed bill to bar the DC Police from informing the federal authorities of illegal immigrants arrested in the nation's capital was, of course, introduced in reaction to the Arizona law recently enacted to permit law enforcement officers to inquire into a person's immigration status when detained or questioned about potential violations of any state law unrelated to immigration status. This means that if an illegal immigrant is arrested for breaking a law in Arizona that the police there (many of whom are Hispanic Americans) may determine that the arrested person is in this country illegally and report this information the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. However, if the DC proposal becomes law, the police in the nation's capital that arrest an illegal immigrant (even if from Pakistan) will not be allowed to report this information to ICE!
This sure seems to be a strange situation, but such are the consequences of the liberal PC world that now rules in Washington, DC.
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