密歇根新闻广播 到底谁才是老大

A lot of old cop movies have a scene like this one, in Die Hard where the feds show up and start bossing local police around.

Out in the real world, things are more complicated. Federal law enforcement can't always just boss local law enforcement around. And that's a key part of a big controversy¹ happening right now in Kent County.

The controversy is about immigration enforcement.

Immigration is a federal issue, handled by federal law enforcement.

But if someone gets arrested and booked in a local county jail, their fingerprints² and personal information get sent to the feds.

And if the feds look at that info and think the person has violated immigration laws, they can ask the county to hold them an extra couple days in the jail cell.

No county in Michigan gets more of these requests than Kent County. Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University shows that over the past decade, Kent County has gotten about 2,000 detainer requests, more than double the number of any other county in the state.

The sheriff of Kent County, Michelle Young says once those requests arrive, the county has to comply.

It's not for us to determine if the legal process that congress set out is fair or if it's appropriate or sufficient, Sheriff Young says. It's my job to facilitate the legal execution of those laws of Congress.

But this is not how the ACLU sees it. And it's not how attorneys from the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center see it.

Hillary Scholten is attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. She spoke³ at the last meeting of the Kent County Board of Commissioners⁴.

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She said this process, what's called a detainer request, it doesn't require the county to do anything at all.

It's an administrative⁵ warrant, Scholten said. It's not a judicial⁶ warrant. There's a big difference. A detainer is simply a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a local law enforcement agency to hold an individual for immigration purposes.

Local law enforcement doesn't have to do what the feds say. The feds aren't in charge.

Courts, by the way, have solidly agreed with this view. Local law enforcement is not required to comply with or honor administrative warrants from federal immigration officers. That's because of the Tenth Amendment⁷ of the Constitution, which says all powers not specifically delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.

And there are other sheriffs in Michigan who choose not to comply.

Scott Wrigglesworth is Sheriff of Ingham County. He stopped honoring detainer requests about a year ago.

The main reason as the new sheriff is these requests from ICE aren't from the judicial branch of government, Wrigglesworth says.

Not from the judicial branch, which Wrigglesworth says means there's not much of a valid⁸ legal reason for holding someone extra time.

He says if he hears from immigration officers about someone in his jail, he just calls them and lets them know when that person is getting out. The federal officers can come pick them up as soon as they're released.

After a year of this policy, he says it's been pretty uncontroversial.

Activists⁹ have been trying to get Kent County to take the same approach. They've disrupted County Commission meetings to try to press the issue. But the decision on detainers rests entirely¹⁰ with the Sheriff's department. And the sheriff's department says it's not changing the policy anytime soon.

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

5 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

6 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

7 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

8 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。