Two Conservatives Tell Bush They Oppose Plan for Police
The two conservatives, David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, wrote President Bush on Friday to complain that the plan under review by Attorney General John Ashcroft would set a dangerous precedent by empowering local jurisdictions to enforce many federal laws.

"If local police are to enforce our immigration laws, will they soon be required to seek out and apprehend those who violate our environmental laws, or the Americans with Disabilities Act as well?" the letter said.

The letter was also signed by Raymond L. Flynn, a former ambassador to the Vatican who now leads the Catholic Alliance, a national Roman Catholic political organization.

A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said that aides had not seen the letter and that it was premature to speculate on the outcome of the Justice Department proposal.

If adopted, the proposal would allow local police officers to make arrests for civil violations of immigration law, like overstaying visas.

A 1996 opinion by the office of legal counsel at the Justice Department precluded local officers from tracking down illegal immigrants, and a draft memorandum last November by the same office supported that conclusion. Federal agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service typically handle such cases.

Many police departments have voiced concern that the Justice Department proposal would jeopardize their relations with immigrants, who would be less willing to report crimes.

In their letter to Mr. Bush, Mr. Keene, Mr. Norquist and Mr. Flynn wrote that the proposal would strain already overburdened police departments and create unnecessary policies.

"This is not just bad policy, it is not really needed," they said. "Mechanisms already exist to foster federal-local cooperation in this area."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/02/politics/02ENFO.html