Swirling national and global headlines around Operation Metro Surge. All rooted in my hometown of Minneapolis. The law is supposed to guide the way in the United States when conflicts happen between civil rights and different branches of government. Several issues came to pulse points between Homeland Security’s I.C.E. officers and civilian protesters in January and February. For a refresher about what rules federal law enforcement should follow as well as the laws of peaceful protest, I turned to retired federal Judge James Rosenbaum. He served on Minnesota’s federal bench for 25 years and as the US Attorney for Minnesota’s federal district before that. Currently an arbitrator and mediator, he dissected Constitutional rights on The Crisis Files. Watch our entire conversation in Case File #185: Judging I.C.E. here for illumination about the why behind laws and what could then follow.
Judge Rosenbaum shares key differences between administrative warrants and judicial warrants and why the process won’t change unless decided by the courts. Or, if Congress acts, which is actually the bigger deal. What many people forget is the Constitution gives Congress the power over immigration, but laws on the books date back to the 1980s and 1990s. If Congress were to define and clarify through legislation what’s happened in our modern landscape over the past 40 years or more, we might not end up with the clashes of the past few weeks or the immigration issues of the past few decades. Courts would then have laws to interpret that are relevant to our times and protect safety and human rights.
