More Proof the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine Is a Fig Leaf Used by Sanctuary States

Recently I posted a short item on the 10th Amendment “anti-commandeering” charade used by sanctuary states to impede federal immigration enforcement efforts. We now have further proof, if any were really needed, that this is a charade.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers, working in tandem with ICE officers, engaged in an interdiction operation that netted 125 illegal aliens. Of that total, a shocking 90 were in possession of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), and driving big rigs on America’s highways – more on that in a separate posting. But to put the gravy on the rice, as my friends in Louisiana were wont to say, at least one of the arrestees was in possession of a supposedly Real ID compliant CDL issued by New York with “No Name Given” in the identity block. 

My friend and colleague Andrew Arthur has ably noted the multiple dangers this poses to Americans, not just on the highways but in general. As Art notes, New York, among other sanctuary jurisdictions, truly has forgotten the lessons of 9/11.

A cursory search establishes that California, too, has such a policy which, like New York, includes CDLs. It is abundantly clear that the purpose of issuing “No Name” identification documents is to frustrate federal authorities in their efforts to enforce the immigration laws, and the public safety be damned.

These are not the actions of state or local governments zealously guarding their constitutional prerogatives under the 10th Amendment, but rather of jurisdictions hell-bent on exerting their preferred political outcomes over the federal sphere. But in the process, it seems to me that they have violated the criminal code. Section 274 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1324) is pretty clear:

(a) Criminal penalties 

 (1)

  (A) Any person who—

   (iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation;

shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B). (Emphasis added.)

Other portions of this section of law punish conspiracies and acts of aiding-and-abetting. Depending on the specific provision charged, the penalties range from 5 years to 10 years in jail per alien for each such violation.

I would encourage the Justice Department to convene federal grand juries for each state which engages in such a practice; to issue subpoenas and take testimony from relevant state officials who were responsible for initiating or approving such a policy, in addition to obtaining records of each such instance of a “No Name” document issued to an illegal alien; and let the indictments flow. Maybe then they will be less eager to throw caution, common sense, public safety and national security to the wind.