More importantly, they are barred from enforcing them without authority from the Federal Government to do so. LEO’s have no idea how immigration law works (much like every nativist asshole). Immigration law is not like criminal law in many fundamental ways.
Sanctuary cities exist precisely because they are perfectly legal. There is no obligation for state or local government to cooperate with ICE officials on warrantless information requests.
As to the actual topic, good for the guy who was filming, for speaking up.
The guy who spoke up was probably comfortably white, and had nothing to worry about.
That cop doesn’t look like he’s passed a fitness test in over a decade.
That’s why it’s especially important for comfortably white people to speak up in these situations now and support the targets of bigotry, as this gentleman did. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it’s a lot less risky to break social norms (in constructive or, as we see with the current regime, destructive ways) when one is a privileged white male. Petty tyrants like this ticket checker are easily cowed by those they regard as their “betters,” so it behooves the latter to make sure the former never get real power.
That seemed to me the very essence of American behaviour. Stood up for what was right, directed an arm of the state not to exceed his brief, did it firmly but not impolitely. What a shame everyone else listening didn’t firmly chime in with “Hear him” “Yes, that’s right” and the like. Nothing could have been better for putting firmly in the (important) servants’ mind that his job is service, not being served.
Per WaPo: The incident was caught on camera on May 14 by Ricardo Levins Morales.
He is an artist who (from his own bio) was “born into the anti-colonial movement in his native Puerto Rico and was drawn into activism in Chicago when his family moved there in 1967.”
It’s balsy because cops are scary and they can and have threatened people trying to be allies with “disorderly conduct”. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a risk to you, but when you’re on your way to pick up your kids at daycare or a job interview (i.e., all you have is you to rely on) the stakes for speaking up for someone’s freedom are MUCH higher.
Don’t downplay the risks here. Assholes like this “cop” know a day in jail is enough of a threat for him to get his way.
Are you in this country legally? Please provide proof of your citizenship.
Ah. You’re still here then?
There was a time on a BBS like this when someone had to be the voice of bigotry and authoritarianism, if only to remind us that they were out there. All that changed on 8 November, 2016.
Apparently the guy couldn’t show them a ticket to prove that he’d paid.
Next, they ask for id to check if the person has pulled this before, so they know how much slack to allow him. So many times when I’ve been listening the person gives unbelievably lame excuses why they don’t have any id on them. (Rather than simply saying that they’re not required to carry id and they’re not.)
The ticket checker should have been a lot more careful in what he said, but I don’t think that the freeloader riding on the public dollar won the moral round. (And is probably a legal citizen who really did have id on him.)
That guy Morales is my hero. How cool it would be if we had something akin to more civil rights lawyers just walking amongst the population to school psuedo-cops, like air marshals lurking on airline flights.
The KKK username is also a convenient troll indicator. And I love this picture.
I also love the man who intervened, because I’m not sure I’d have the confidence to do the same.
ICE cannot force you to incriminate yourself, per fifth amendment. Therefore, you are only really required to not lie to them (i.e. pretend to be someone else, or, if you are not a citizen, pretend to be a citizen.) You are not required to tell them where you were born or your status.
Another American hero making America great again. Just kidding.
Christ, what an asshole.
Do you ride transit that has a proof of payment system? Can you guess about how many times they catch someone bumming a ride who claims that they have no id on them? Would you never be tempted to say something like “Are you from Mars then?”
Yes, frequently.
Nope. In many states you aren’t required to carry ID.
No, but I can understand why a racist authoritarian asshole might.
