For the final article in my series on how policing could change under President Trump, I’m going to look at the Department of Justice practice of using consent decrees to push for reform in local police departments. In this context, a consent decree is a binding agreement between a police department and the DOJ that is reached as a settlement after the DOJ sues the police department for an alleged pattern of civil rights violations. This is something that is widely expected to decline under Jeff Sessions’ leadership. Continue reading “Trump’s presidency: A hiatus in consent decrees”
Trump’s presidency: The 1033 program
This continues a series of articles looking at different ways Trump’s election might have an impact on law enforcement.
As I noted in my last post, the transfer of military equipment to local police departments has been a subject of scrutiny and controversy in recent years, and the Trump presidency looks to be conducive to that transfer.
Trump’s Presidency: What’s coming in immigration enforcement
Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president by railing against the criminals coming in from Mexico, promised to build $14+ billion wall on the southern border, proposed banning immigration from Muslim countries, and has signed two executive orders (both of which have been stalled by the courts) to halt immigration from several Muslim majority countries. I will skate past all the political arguments and make the hopefully uncontroversial claim that he is not for open borders.
Since the election, there have been a slew of news stories about immigration raids and stories about a general climate of fear in immigrant communities. I remain a little skeptical of there being a trend. The stories so far are isolated and/or anecdotal; I’ve yet to see a (reputable) news source with a headline proclaiming that immigration raids are skyrocketing. Plus, we have yet to see our country run on a Trump administration budget–I am unaware of any sudden windfall of funding for ICE to pay overtime for increased work loads.* Here are some ways immigration enforcement, and our perception of it, may change under President Trump (and may already be changing): Continue reading “Trump’s Presidency: What’s coming in immigration enforcement”