On April 12, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California issued a press release calling for changes to Lexipol’s Immigration Violations Policy.
Lexipol’s Immigration Violations Policy was carefully crafted to balance the need to protect the civil rights of community members with the need to safeguard lives and property and enforce the law. Viewpoints of advocacy groups, including those by the ACLU, were considered when we developed the Immigration Violations Policy.
We believe the claims made in the ACLU press release about Lexipol’s Immigration Violations Policy are misleading and we are disappointed that the ACLU chose to make their concerns public with no attempt to engage with us first.
As noted in an alert to its Law Enforcement customers on March 31, Lexipol’s current Immigration Violations Policy remains constitutionally sound. Lexipol recognizes the concerns of the ACLU, police chiefs and sheriffs, and the communities we serve regarding immigration issues. Lexipol also recognizes public safety personnel across the country have varying levels of interaction with immigration officials. Lexipol works to ensure that our Immigration Violations Policy, as with all our policies, provides baseline guidance on what officers can and cannot legally do in this area, while recognizing that our clients may need to modify and customize the policy to meet their local community and operational standards.
Lexipol welcomes all viewpoints as we continually monitor and update our public safety policies, including the recent comments by the ACLU, on this unfolding issue. Should we determine that national and state-level developments in immigration policy deem it in the best interests of our customers to make changes to our policy, we will issue an appropriate update at that time.
