A lawsuit was filed recently in LA Superior Court by residents of the City of Los Angeles seeking to stop the Los Angeles Police Department from enforcing its longstanding “Special Order 40.” The lawsuit alleges that Special Order 40, as well as the practices of the LAPD relating to that Order, run contrary to the mandates of California Health & Safety Code § 11369.
Special Order 40 was first enacted in November 1979 by then Police Chief Daryl Gates. The Order instructed officers to “not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person.” The Order continues that officers are prohibited from arrest[ing] or book[ing] persons for violation of Title 8, Section 1323 of the United States Immigration [sic] Code (Illegal Entry).” The Order states further that, upon arresting an “undocumented alien” for “multiple misdemeanor offenses, a high grade misdemeanor or a felony offense,” the LAPD is required to notify the immigration authorities of the arrest of the individual, and forward the individual’s arrest report to immigration officials.
A 2000-2001 study by the Rampart Independent Review Panel, which was assigned to investigate the Rampart scandal and report its findings to the LA Police Commission, found that, in practice, the LAPD “go[es] beyond the limited provisions of Special Order 40.” The Panel’s investigation found that LAPD officers do not notify immigration authorities of the arrest of an “undocumented alien” as they are required to do under the provisions of the Order. The Panel found that, in practice, immigration authorities are only notified of the arrest of an undocumented alien by LAPD, if, after the arrested person appears in court, the judge orders the person to be held in the Los Angeles County Jail. At this point, immigration authorities are notified by the LA County Sheriff’s Department, and not LAPD. Thus, in practice, according to the findings of the Rampart Panel, LAPD never notifies immigration authorities that an undocumented alien has been arrested.
This recently filed lawsuit challenges these practices by the LAPD as being contrary to the requirements of state law, to wit: California Health & Safety Code § 11369, which provides that, “[w]hen there is reason to believe that any person arrested for a violation of [certain enumerated drug related crimes], may not be a citizen of the United States, the arresting agency shall notify the appropriate agency of the United States having charge of deportation matters.” It seems clear that the LAPD policy of not notifying immigration authorities of the arrest of a person on such certain enumerated drug related crimes runs contrary to the requirements of this California statute.
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