The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 allowed runaway slaves to be grabbed off the street. Those who interfered or helped fugitive slaves escape were fined $500. When enslaved people escaped, plantation owners relied on state and local government officials for enforcement.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 took it a step further. While it also allowed runaway slaves to be grabbed off the street, it made the federal government responsible for enforcing the law, and imposed harsh penalties ($1,000 fines and up to six-months imprisonment) on federal marshals who refused to help.
I am in no way equating the brutal institution of slavery with violations of immigration laws.
According to the laws of the United States, it was illegal for the enslaved to escape slavery and it is illegal now to enter this country without complying with the immigration laws.
But on our streets, you’re seeing law enforcement use tactics that were also prominently used in 1793 and 1850.
We pride ourselves to the world that we are a country based on the Rule of Law. The Rule of Law safeguards fundamental human rights, protects against the arbitrary exercise of power, and applies laws equally and fairly to everyone, regardless of who they are.
I was a New Orleans police officer. All professionally trained police officers in this country worth their salt know that the enforcement tactics used are unprofessional and unsafe. If these same enforcement tactics were used by any police officer, it would be illegal in a court of law.
When I was a judge, I found that the NOPD was engaged in a selective-enforcement policy profiling Latino drivers and barred them from continuing that practice.
I am not advocating that we should not enforce our immigration laws.
But how you enforce the law is just as important as the law itself.
The teachings of two philosophers come to mind. George Santayana said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
G.W.F. Hegel said, “History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.”
The question for us is, which history lesson will we learn?
Arthur L. Hunter, Jr. is an occasional contributor to The Lens who is a former New Orleans Police Department officer and a retired Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judge.
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