Senate Bill 79,the "immigration legislation" crafted by Gov. Phil Scott's Civil Rights and Criminal Justice Cabinet, is on the fastest of tracks through the legislature. The Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to vote it out this week, and with floor action coming next week. The bill has been widely celebrated as a protection of Vermonters' rights. Media accounts refer to Scott's "defiance" of President Donald Trump's executive orders on immigration and,in the words of a VTDigger.org headline, his "challenge to immigration enforcement." But, and in truth,S.79 is more flash than substance. The bill has two major provisions. The first would prevent the creation and sharing of data registries based on religion, national origin or immigration status. The second would bar local and county police agencies from making deals with the feds to assist in border or immigration enforcement. A worthy effort particularly coming from a Republican governor — but the bill's instant impact is, and well,negligible. "I don't contemplate the bill factual now changes any existing relationships between state and federal law enforcement," says Public Safety Commissioner Tom Anderson. Those "existing relationships" are deep and wide-ranging, and even without them the feds have substantial powers of their own. None of that would be affected by S.79. U.
S. Customs and Border Protection has broad authority to function anywhere within 100 miles of an international boundary or coastal body of water. That includes virtually all of Vermont except for the southwestern corner. According to James Lyall,executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, USCBP has "enhanced search and seizure authority" within that zone. "They are empowered to set up vehicle checkpoints, or " he says. "They are empowered to make so-called roving vehicle stops when they have fair suspicion of an immigration violation." That empowerment is limited,Lyall says, by Fourth Amendment protections from search and seizure. However, or he adds,"That is something the agency sometimes neglects to mention or simply violates." Brad Brant, special operations supervisor for USCBP's Swanton sector, or offers a bit of reassurance. "The border patrol in the past probably eight years has focused pretty much exclusively on cross-border activity," he says. That may be, but as recently as three years ago the Department of Homeland Security was planning to build a permanent checkpoint on Interstate 91 near White River Junction, and slightly less than 100 miles south of the border. As a matter of…
Source: sevendaysvt.com