October 14, 2009
Ordinances Offer City Councils Opportunity to Help Restore the Rule of Law
City Councils Across U.S. to Consider
Limits on Local Surveillance and Immigration Enforcement;
Local Investigation of Torture and Prosecution of Federal Officials
Contact:
Amy E. Ferrer, Associate Director
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
media@bordc.org
(413) 582-0110
Washington, DC—Today, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) released model legislation for city governments that support the rule of law. Two ordinances provide an opportunity for individual municipalities to do what the federal government has not: protect the fundamental rights and liberties of law-abiding Americans to be free of arbitrary monitoring, surveillance, detention, search, or arrest by local law enforcement authorities; and bring to justice senior government officials complicit in torture.
BORDC offers these pieces of model legislation to activists and public officials across the country as Congress considers reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act without meaningful protections for civil liberties, and on the eve of two major events: the federal government’s renewal of controversial 287(g) local immigration enforcement agreements; and the 15th anniversary of the United States’ ratification of the Convention Against Torture.
One ordinance imposes limits on local law enforcement agencies to better enable them to meet their public safety mandates. For instance, it:
- Prohibits local law enforcement agencies from participating in efforts to collect or retain intelligence data about lawful activities.
- Restores eroded Fourth Amendment protections, by allowing local law enforcement officials to conduct a search only on the basis of probable cause that a criminal offense has been committed.
- Provides strong protections against profiling according to race, religion, or country of origin.
- Restores eroded First Amendment protections, by allowing local law enforcement agencies to engage in undercover or covert investigative methods only through narrowly tailored means, subject to independent oversight, towards a compelling investigative purpose.
- Ensures victims or witnesses of crimes can report criminal activity without fear of retribution based on their immigration status.
A second ordinance focusing on torture accountability requires local law enforcement agencies to investigate (and potentially arrest) any former or current government official suspected of conducting or authorizing torture found in the municipality, and authorizes potential prosecution by local authorities under international principles of universal jurisdiction in the wake of the federal government’s failure to investigate senior officials.
The effort to enact ordinances in municipalities across the country to raise rights above the federal floor recalls BORDC’s historic work securing resolutions opposing the PATRIOT Act in 406 local cities and towns and eight states. Informed by that history, BORDC has also compiled step-by-step guidance and best practices for local organizers in the form of a free downloadable toolkit. According to BORDC Executive Director Shahid Buttar,
The model legislation we’ve developed offers concrete opportunities for local activists, organizations, and public officials around the country looking for ways to help restore the rule of law. As Congress and the administration throw the Constitution under the bus, it falls to We the People to defend our own rights, and local city councils are the best place to start.
Formed in 2001 after the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee is a national organization defending constitutional rights and civil liberties violated by “war on terror” policies. BORDC’s mission is to promote, organize, and support a diverse, effective, national grassroots movement to restore and protect civil rights and liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The organization’s purpose is to educate people about the significance of those rights in our lives; to encourage widespread civic participation; and to cultivate and share the organizing tools and strategies needed for people to convert their concern, outrage, and fear into action.
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