With regard to the illegal alien who won a $50,000 settlement from the city of Palmer: This is outrageous. Palmer police did nothing wrong. Federal immigration law empowers local police to enforce federal immigration law. In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which repeatedly grants authority to local police to enforce immigration law. Also, in 2002, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel issued an extremely important legal opinion explaining that state and local police officers have the inherent authority to arrest illegal aliens and transfer them to federal custody, regardless of whether the aliens have committed criminal or civil violations of immigration law. Federal courts have repeatedly reaffirmed that police can inquire about violations of immigration law in the course of their duties (e.g., U.S. v. Salinas-Calderon).
Perhaps the most outrageous thing is how Palmer's police department basically has turned Palmer into a sanctuary city as a result of their cowardice in this matter and put out a giant welcome mat for illegal aliens. They issued new policies that implicitly ban cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, putting Palmer among the ranks of cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. One assumes police chief Lance Ketterling signed off on this. He needs to lose his job.
— Roger Williams
Palmer