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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: January 23, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. G <br />SUBJECT: Resolution in Opposition to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with <br />Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for Local Law Enforcement to <br />Enforce Civil Immigration Laws <br />DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No <br />ATTACHMENT: <br />-Resolution <br />-Sample MOU for Mecklenberg County <br />-Statement Against the CLEAR Act by the <br />National Organization for Women <br />-Statement Against the CLEAR Act by Int'I <br />Chiefs of Police <br />INNFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Milan T. Pham, 960-3877 <br />Bill Hendrickson, Chair HRC <br />Caroline Wood, Chair CFW <br />PURPOSE: To protect the civil rights and liberties of Orange County residents and oppose <br />efforts to enter into voluntary memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the Department of <br />Homeland Security and ICE to have local government law enforcement enforce immigration <br />laws. <br />BACKGROUND: According to the American Civil Liberties Union, racial profiling is any police <br />or private security practice in which a person is treated as a suspect because of his or her race, <br />ethnicity, nationality or religion. This occurs when police investigate, stop, frisk, search or use <br />force against a person based on such characteristics instead of evidence of a person's criminal <br />behavior. It often involves the stopping and searching of people of color for traffic violations, <br />known as "DWB" or "driving while black or brown." In light of recent events of national <br />significance regarding terrorism and immigration, racial profiling has more frequently come to <br />involve Latinos and Asians. <br />Despite constitutional and civil rights protections contained in the Fourth and Fourteenth <br />Amendments to the Constitution and 42 USC §1981, communities of color and immigrant <br />communities continue to be targeted inappropriately. Additionally, new changes to federal <br />immigration policy and changes instituted at the local government level have created a climate <br />of hostility towards certain immigrant groups and increased instances of racial profiling against <br />those same communities. <br />In 2003, the United States House of Representatives entertained legislation known as the Clear <br />Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act H.R.2671 that would require local