Obama exempts INTERPOL from search and seizure on US lands

Posted by Clyde Middleton on Dec 21 2009 Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

World Net Daily is now talking about. Big time, eh? Also, here’s the full list of every entity ever granted such privileges under American law.

This post is based on a post at Brutally Honest. See also my follow-up piece here.

The concept of granting immunity to foreign nationals in our country goes back at least as early as 1790 when we passed “An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States,” wherein immunity was granted to foreign diplomats. (This Act was revised in 1798 by the (in)famous “Sedition Act.”)

The immunities were not as broad as one would think, and that lack of a broad immunity has been tagged as a reason, among many, why the League of Nations failed. In 1945, at the same time as the United Nations was formed, we passed the United States International Organizations Immunities Act. This Act gave foreign diplomats many of the same rights as citizens and permanent residents – to enter into contracts, own real property, etc. Additional rights were given, and in particular was this:

Section 2(c) Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.

This section of the Act is the legal force behind all those “diplomatic pouches” we see in movies that cannot be inspected.

Before we get our knickers in a bunch, there is logic to this immunity. While we like our Constitution and laws, other countries like their Constitution and laws. It doesn’t matter if the concept of personal freedom is more expansive here. If we expect immunity in their country, we have to extend it to them here. So we’re somewhat stuck – we need to dwell in reciprocity.

The issue has been litigated plenty, with DeLuca v. the United Nations, (41 F.3d 1502 (1994)) being one of the most important of recent vintage. Our courts have consistently upheld the concept of immunity for international organizations – even though to do so leaves an aggrieved American plaintiff with no legal recourse to correct their injury.

Along comes INTERPOL: The International Criminal Police Organization. INTERPOL “facilitates cross-border police co-operation, and supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime.”

In 1983, President Reagan signed Executive Order 12425:

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, including Section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (59 Stat. 669, 22 U.S.C. 288), it is hereby ordered that the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), in which the United States participates pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 263a, is hereby designated as a public international organization entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions and immunities conferred by the International Organizations Immunities Act; except those provided by Section 2(c), the portions of Section 2(d) and Section 3 relating to customs duties and federal internal-revenue importation taxes, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act. This designation is not intended to abridge in any respect the privileges, exemptions or immunities which such organization may have acquired or may acquire by international agreement or by Congressional action.

Through EO 12425, President Reagan extended to INTERPOL recognition as an “International Organization.” In short, the privileges and immunities afforded foreign diplomats was extended to INTERPOL. Two sets of important privileges and immunities were withheld: Section 2(c) (presented in full text above), and the remaining sections cited (all of which deal with differing taxes).

And then comes December 17, 2009, and President Obama. The exemptions in EO 12425 were removed:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words “except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act” and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

What does this mean? It means that we have an international police force authorized to act within the United States that is no longer subject to 4th Amendment Search and Seizure. The “property and assets of [INTERPOL], wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation.”

INTERPOL, an international criminal police organization, is now poised to reside above the United States Constitution – in a place of sanctity beyond our FBI, CIA, DIA, and all other criminal investigatory domestic organizations.

President Obama has just placed our Constitutional rights under international law.

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Short URL: http://libertypundits.net/?p=9784

Ross Wolf

President Obama's Executive Order EO 12425 put INTERPOL above the United States Constitution, beyond the legal reach of our own top law enforcement.

Why has Obama allowed foreign law enforcement to operate in the U.S. free of Constitutional safeguards that protected Americans, until now? Obama’s Executive Order authorized INTERPOL to act within the United States without being subject to 4th Amendment Search and Seizure." That appears Key: Obama’s executive order will allow U.S. police to circumvent the Fourth Amendment by working with INTERPOL in criminal and Civil investigations e.g., ;since the Patriot Act passed, several European Countries entered into Asset Forfeiture Sharing Agreements with the U.S. In 2008 Telecoms were granted government immunity after they helped U.S. Government spy on millions of Americans’ electronic communications. U.S. Government never disclosed what happened to NSA’s millions of warrant-less collected emails, faxes and phone call information that belong to U.S. Citizens? Neither Congress nor the courts—determined what NSA electronic surveillance could be used by police or introduced into court by U.S. Government.

Just prior to 9-11 Rep. Henry Hyde’s bill HR 1658 passed, the “Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000” and effectively eliminated the “statue of limitations” for Government Civil Asset Forfeiture. The statute now runs five years from when police allege they “learned” that an asset became subject to forfeiture. With such a weak statute of limitations and the low standard of civil proof needed for government to forfeit property “A preponderance of Evidence”, it is problematic INTERPOL working with U.S. law enforcement and private government contractors will want access to telecom/NSA and other government wiretaps perhaps illegal, to secure evidence to arrest Americans and or civilly forfeit their homes, inheritances, intellectual property and businesses under Title 18USC and other laws.

Thanks to Obama, U.S. Police can now use INTERPOL to circumvent the Fourth Amendment to share in assets seized from Americans.
DonB

What good would it do to ask our senators to investigate ... especially with the Liberal bunch that is there, presently?

If ever there was a waste of time, that would be it. They can't even get enough Conservative and Independent voices together to make a Super Majority to call for a debate!

GET REAL!!! (:-(
Clyde

You're pretty funny, Janet Smith. Let's cut to the chase. Read the NYT October 11, 2009, article on Interpol. Once you educate yourself on Interpol (it's not a steady-state organization), then we can pick up this conversation again.

And, yes, I have researched Interpol. And the ICC. Both in quite a bit of detail.

Bring yourself up to speed then come back. Looking forward to it.

Have a nice evening.
Janet Smith

You guys are a bunch of paranoid, right-wing extremists. You are completely ignorant, and haven't even bothered to educate yourselves as to what Interpol actually is. Interpol does not have police officers or agents that act independently and conduct their own investigations. They can only assist law enforcement agencies within our country in response to a specific request from those agencies. Essentially, what Interpol staff do is communicate with coordinating offices in other nations, in an attempt to gather intelligence and information that those countries are willing to share with us about international criminals. That information is then relayed to our law enforcement agencies to aid them in their efforts to pursue and prosecute criminals. The local Interpol staff can also make requests of our law enforcement to acquire info that can be transmitted to other countries. But we are under no obligation to release information that we don't want to.

Basically, Interpol staff in the U.S. are only privy to information that we give to them, or that we simultaneously gain through a combined investigative effort. They would have no information or documents about U.S. citizens that our law enforcement wouldn't also have access to, unless that information originated in another country. And even in that situation, the U.S. Interpol office would only obtain that information through a request from local law enforcement, and therefore would presumably relay that info according to the request.

Since Interpol does not conduct its own independent investigations on U.S. soil, this entire article and all of the ignorant replies that are in agreement with it are a decisive non-issue.
Clyde

TT, my point exactly. It was done for a reason. Now we need to understand why.
TT

Then why take the time and effort to amend it?
lisaintx

Mac Shack
I agree 100% and wonder the SAME THING!
This CORRUPTION runs DEEP and FAR....we have been played by the best of the Old World Order....looks like the "Work Of Ages" is upon us....We need leadership equal to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin to help reverse this IF it can be reversed at this stage.
Off the top of my head, I can think of Ron Paul, John Cornyn, Michelle Bachman are just a few that might can help We The People....

FreeAmerican
Well Said!! They were not read their "Miranda Rights"---looks like a quick and 'convenient" OUT to me....
I remember how Obama dropped the charges against the terrorist attacker of the USS Cole.....Was this a "Payback" for "Campaign Contributions"'??? IMO---HELL YES.
FreeAmerican

It's all about comprimising the Integrety of the Constitution.

Giving Powers and/or Immunities to foreign police agencies that would be Un-Constitutional for our own domestic agencies, has what benefit to 'We The People' ?

What benifit would it give any government agency be it foreign or domestic, seeking to strengthen it's hand against 'We The People', but is otherwise bound by the Constitution, to have a place (they now have thanks to Obama) above and beyond that pesky Constitution, to legally hide any and all gathered inteligence on 'We the People', from 'We The people' ?

The upcomming 911 Trial in NYC could very well be the next chink in armor, because there is no 'Precedent' for such a trial in the US. As there is no 'Precedent' under US Law, is it not only natural that International Law could be sited? Once 'International Law' has been officially sited in any case, our Sovereignty is immediately compromised, as both our Judicial System and the Constitution it's suppose to be based on, are immediately compromised. Couldn't it officially open and subject them all, including our Individual ("Negetive") Liberties & Rights, to 'International Interpretation' ?
mac shack

This makes me sick to my stomach! I do not care if there is a hidden agenda or not...this has to be stopped. So someone tell me what can we do to stop this madness that is occurring in this country? Voter intimidation is allowed, battery is encouraged by our president if you do not agree with his agenda (we will hit back twice as hard), citizens are called racist and traitors by our elected officials for executing our first amendment right, legislature is being written by unelected political supporters (stimulus bill), elected officials are voting on bills without any knowledge of what they contain and then mock us when we demand they be read...this list could go on and on! What the hell do we do? And do not tell me we vote them out this year...do you really believe we will be allowed to vote or if we vote that it will be counted legally? The corruption is too open now with no attempt to hide what they are doing; they have to have something planned to prevent their removal from office...I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but I cannot think of any other outcome. They know Obama will be impeached if Republicans get control of Congress and/or Senate again so there has to be something planned to stop that. Where do we go from here and how do we get there? Anyone?
lisaintx

CAT
If it's such a NO big deal, Then WHY give them Immunity? Why not keep the order as it was originally written under Reagan?
They will not HAVE to answer to OUR laws nor fall UNDER our Constitution, that is why Obama did this.
Elle

Obama nightly dreams (and also daydreams) of President Bush and Cheney in their pajamas; being awakened in the middle of the night and then being escorted out of the country to be tried as war criminals in an unknown location. Ridiculous? Yeah, but who's laughing now, but the traitor in the WH. I see it being possible under Obama.

Day after day, headline after headline, there's always something that he does that you thought he'd never do; but he does.

What is ridiculous is the continuing spell and the continuing support of a leader who is OBVIOUSLY ON THE TRACK TO DESTROY the USA. Where is the patriotism?

Support Obama all you want for being a Harvard educated man; but do stop there when he's out to weaken America financially, militarily, religiously, and economically. We are still a God fearing nation - I hope. Obama and Michelle lived beyond their means when he was a senator. Why do you think he's spending hundreds of billions of dollars a month? When our currency goes down to nothing, we'll be lucky if we become a doormat to the UN. It's not so farfetch to imagine some people from the ICC to extract our citizens for prosecution abroad.
lisaintx

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, Preserve, Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States.“

The Federal Government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states.

The policies of the federal government have a broad impact on both the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States. In addition, the powers of the federal government as a whole are limited by the Constitution, which, per the Tenth Amendment, states that all powers not expressly assigned to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people.

I wonder HOW granting a foreign Police force immunity from our Constitution and laws can be considered DEFENDING, PROTECTING or PRESERVING our Nations precious document?
lisaintx

Great research and info!!
I would say the LINE has been drawn in the sand and CROSSED by this admin!
Clyde

Cat, I have a post on this coming in a couple of days. INTERPOL is not the anemic entity folks are trying to tell that they are. I wish they were.
CAT

Please see:
.............................................................................................................
"CREDIBILITY IN SCARY TIMES"
By Lynn Stuter
December 29, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

[quote]
[...]The International Organizations Immunities Act addresses diplomatic immunity; it does not give any foreign entity, such as INTERPOL, police powers or legal powers within the United States.[...]

INTERPOL is not an international law enforcement agency. As stated above, INTERPOL facilitates cross-border police co-operation regarding criminal acts that are international in scope. For instance, INTERPOL would have been contacted when the Nigerian national, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to blow up Northwest/Delta flight 253 on approach to the Detroit, Michigan airport. INTERPOL would facilitate the exchange of information between foreign law enforcement agencies with information on Abdulmutallab and U.S. law enforcement agencies seeking that information; INTERPOL is not a law enforcement agency in and of itself; it has no police enforcement power in any of its member countries.

It is true that INTERPOL has been granted complete and utter diplomatic immunity within the borders of the United States. However, diplomatic immunity does not equate to giving INTERPOL police powers over American citizens; diplomatic immunity is only granted if INTERPOL is in good standing and abides by United States law concerning diplomats residing on American soil. If diplomatic immunity is rescinded, due to offenses against the United States or its citizens, the offending party has a choice to either leave the United States immediately or be arrested and prosecuted under American law. Diplomatic status can be revoked for any number of reasons including acts of war, spying, or criminal acts committed under American law. Over the years, diplomatic status has be revoked a number of times for diplomats in this country, resulting in their immediate expulsion from this country.

The claim that "They are not subject to any Constitutional limitations within the United States"; that they can operate "outside of the Constitution" and American law is utterly false. If an INTERPOL agent showed up at your door, he/she would be risking expulsion or prosecution for breach of diplomatic immunity.
.............................................................................................................

Thank you.
Lisa

You are right and I have never put any comments like this up. I don't care if these flagrant constitutional crashers have a big stinkin long list of tuna farmers or organizations that "enjoy" these abilities from the past and that this is "common" in the diplomatic circles. These are NOT Tuna Farmers. These are POLICE. Period. They effectively can do what they want and there is NO LAW that says they can't apparently at this point. This should be on every news wave in the world. It reminds me of the Wizard of OZ... "Nothing to see here".
Clyde

You're welcome, Stan. I am just now putting form to my follow-up post, "What is InterPol, precisely?" The meme from the left is that InterPol is just some data center without any authority but to ask for assistance. That position is so thin as to be laughable.

Have a great new Year's Eve.
Stan

Clyde,

I want to appreciate you for keeping on hammering away at this. Something's up. It is a lessening of US constitutional sovereignty. For example: If the noise keeps up about Obama's eligibility (which it should), and the public tries to gain access to his passport records, couldn't this info just be quietly slipped by the DoJ to Interpol jurisdiction, and the US people thus be deprived of accessing it now?

Even if not that specific, that sort of thing could perhaps start happening, now - ie, unavailability of US citizenry access to info regarding US foreign AND DOMESTIC business. Plus it is a step further towards putting the US under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

Obama is on record, from his Illinois Senate days, of feeling that the US Constitution needs to change, from being a document determining what the federal government can't do to the citizenry, to what it should/must do FOR it. Thus he would be inclined, now in this position of power, to undermine it. Can't this clearly be seen as a step in that direction??

He is becoming a law unto himself...
Frank Citizen

Where are those who have sworn to defend the U.S. Constitution against ALL Enemies Foreign and Domestic? Are there any PATRIOTS out there???
Nasty Nick

Great how ONE man in ONE political party can sacrifice the sovereignty of our Nation and the Constitution with the stroke of a pen and do it in shadow without any discussion or input by the people he (the President) is sworn to protect. No matter how one looks at this the changes appear to be small and of little consequence until one thinks with more nefarious and dis-honest intent.
Remember the Framers intentions with the forth Amendment, one of them being that no government agency could seize a private American Citizens property or occupy it without due process or just compensation (paraphrasing)
However imagine an international police force being able to enter our Country, and lets say occupy my house, for the purpose of a investigation of some type, eating all my food spending my money, driving my car, damaging my property, raping my daughter etc and when I call the local police and even the FBI to get them out or arrest them for committing crimes against me and my family etc. I am told sorry they have diplomatic immunity they can do whatever they want in the course of an investigation. To top it all off I cant seek compensation or recourse in the courts of any kind; nor could we even ask why they were performing such operations on our soil! This is VERY DANGEROUS to our sovereignty and existence as a Nation.

Soon they would be able to seize, use, anything, anyplace, at anytime, including foreign gov. being able to occupy and operate without jurisprudence on U.S. soil being including an occupying army which IS expressly the main purpose of the 4th Amendment and several other treatise, laws, etc. set up over the years to prevent this from occurring.
The fact that our own people that are employed or working with INTERPOL can work outside and above the law and the Constitution is equally dangerous and can lead to incredible abuses of power without any over-sight or control should be enough to raise huge red flags by ALL Americans.
The Framers thought that they had done all they could to prevent this abuse of power from occurring; possibly never in their wildest nightmares did they think an American President and our Congress would allow something so potentially dangerous to happen to our Country or give away so much to a foreign power or agency.
Perhaps it is time to limit those powers away from one single branch of government so that no one branch or person can sign away ANY basic American Right Guaranteed by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights without serious discussion and re-dress by it's appointed legislatures and their constituents.
Perhaps it is time to protect our Constitution and our Nation from ourselves so it can not be subverted or dismantled a little at a time by those seeking more power and control over us all!
We live in scary and dangerous times my friends, it is time to decide like those before us who risked it all to decide where we want to be as a Nation in the future and if we are on the right path, my feelings and gut tell me we are far down the road to something wrong and unjust. This is but another piece of the puzzle that those who seek to weaken and ruin our great Country are laying out to meet those goals. Mark my words look at all the little parts and see how they come together, or could, to form a picture that will turn out to be very ugly and obscene in it's entirety.
God Bless America!
jeff matthews

Where the complacent camp in this argument is wrong is in one basic point. You NEVER, NEVER give the agent immunity from the scrutiny and authority of the principal - EVER!

Why would any one trust an international agency more than their own government? What if this agency becomes infiltrated by rogues? What if it refuses to comply with procedures? What if it says it complied with procedures, but we don't believe it?

Again, this is basic, Common Sense 101. You never give the agent immunity from the oversight or the principle - ever.
Clyde

Jacob, I appreciate the continued flow of information from internal standards of INTERPOL. I want full and complete information available here. But, again, I state - INTERPOL is a foreign organization. We do not control their actions. Their internal documents can be changed - add to your list of research the 110 (or so) signatories to the Rome Treaty - African, South American nations ... and then exempt this foreign criminal-investigation organization from the constraints of the 4th Amendment while operating on US soil. It is not good, and cannot be justified.

Did you come across the internal discussions on adding "assault" to their crimes of interest? Their footprint will increase.

They cannot be allowed to operate outside our 4th Amendment.
JacoobK

I also found this link on Interpol's website concerning their internal rules for information exchange for the purposes of police cooperation:

http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/LegalMateri...

Interpol's constitution, Article 3, sets forth Interpol's jurisdiction, only international ordinary-law crimes. Their guidelines for police cooperation information exchange don't allow Interpol to violate that limitation, which means they aren't allowed to process requests for information exchange if they deem it's being requested for religious, political, or racially related crimes. Since that should never be an issue in the United States because prosecuting someone for political, religious, or racial reasons would be unconstitutional I'm not entirely sure why the objection to us not being able to subpoena their records if they refuse to give us information because we're trying to prosecute someone for a political, religious or racial crime. And while I understand that as I've stated it these phrases are very vague not to fear, Interpol has specific guidelines about this too:

http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/LegalMateri...
http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/LegalMateri...

The first link is some background to Article 3 of Interpol's constitution and the second is information regarding how article 3 should be interpreted.
Clyde

Jacob, read sub-section D (last paragraph). Nice out, eh?

Access conditions and procedures

Any person who so wishes may, freely and free of charge, exercise the right of access to personal information concerning him which has been recorded in INTERPOL's files.

The Commission shall acknowledge receipt of any request and process the request at the earliest opportunity.

Requests for access to personal information shall only be admissible if they emanate from persons who may actually be the subject of such information or from the duly authorized or legal representatives of such persons.

When the requests submitted to the Commission are clearly unreasonable, for instance because of their number or because of their repetitive or systematic nature, the Commission may refrain from carrying out the verifications and shall not be obliged to reply to the person requesting them.
Clyde

Jacob, no one is ever exempt from giving free access to their records. The issue is not what one can do voluntarily, but what one must do. Internal policies can change in toto or with application to a particular transaction.

The bottom line is this, and it cannot be refuted: We have a law-enforcement organization authorized to act within the United States, and for which we cannot reach their property, persons, or things with a subpoena. It is no more complicated than that.

If we granted equal privileges and immunities to the FBI or a local police force, there would be no question as to the ultra-Constitutional nature of such a status. As Obama signs the Rome Treaty, just like Clinton did, then we will empower INTERPOL to have even a more active presence and interaction with Americans.

It is likewise clear that never in the history of this country have we ever given an organization with police power the ability to act outside the 4th Amendment. Never.
JacobK

That's irrelevant because what it means is that their archives cannot be violated by subpoena, etc, but Interpol has its own internal rules which govern how they're supposed to respond to information requests.

http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/LegalMateri...

So as I said before Interpol has always been exempt from FOIA requests, but I didn't mention before that Interpol has its own internal rules that govern how it processes requests for information which means that United States laws which make it so that the government of the United States can't force them to give away information doesn't exempt them from giving away information according to their own rules.
Clyde

JacobK - read the SCOTUS case law on this phrase - The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable - and get back to me.
JacobK

The freedom of information act has never applied to Interpol, it only applies to United States federal agencies, which interpol is not, it is an international organization. So Obama hasn't suddenly made it so that we can't issue Interpol related freedom of information act requests, it's always been that way. The United States Department of Justice is a United States federal agency which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act therefore any and all information requested of them pertaining to what they do that is not exempted by a specific provision of the Freedom of Information Act must still be honored just like always. In this regard nothing about Obama's amendment to Reagan's executive order has changed.
Clyde

Jason, be more definitive, please. What do you mean by "it"? Comparing outing Plame (somewhat of an odd, inconclusive story) to granting a law-enforcement agency immunity from the heart of our Constitution doesn't quite line up.
Jason

There were treasonous crimes committed by the previous admin. (Think Valarie Plame) couldn't do it then, doubt it would happen now
Clyde

Thanks, Jim. I posted the list a little bit ago - found it, too.

My point on FOIA and the government version - a subpoena - is that the documents are now out of reach. They were not before.

A 501(c)(3) does not have blanket immunity from FOIA - which seeks government documents. If a non-profit entity receives government funding, they can be considered a "public entity" for purposes of an FOIA request.

The broader issue, however, is being freed from subpoenas. Their records are now off limits - but even our own FBI's records are not.
Jim Lippard

There's a fairly long list of "international organizations" with the immunities of 22 USC 288:

http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/us...

Keep in mind that the U.S. is a *member* of Interpol, as deskjockey observed above.

Clyde's concern about reach of FOIA seems to me misplaced--I doubt Interpol was within reach of FOIA in any case. Note that the creation of public/private partnerships--501(c)(3)s like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Internet Crime Complaint Center was done in part to put them out of reach of FOIA, so that they can act as clearinghouses for information submitted for law enforcement investigation.
Clyde

I disagree. First, the judge grabbing assets statement was already in place. INTERPOL had that through 12425. The change is is that 12425 did not extend an exemption of the 4th Amendment Search and Seizure protection that is given to diplomats to this criminal investigatory organization.

THAT is the fundamental change. We have INTERPOL authorized to act within our country - in fact, portions of out DOJ are "INTERPOL." Those folks can now act beyond FOIA and beyond any ability to have their records, property, or persons searched or seized. No judge can issue a search warrant Nothing.

Not even our own FBI or CIA is so protected.

Don't lose sight - this is a police organization. It is now authorized to act in secret. We cannot inspect their records. We cannot question them. You see that?

W would never have done this, so your final point is mute. The requirement that INTERPOL be subject to S&S and their records be reachable was in 12425. Obama has taken that out.
deskjockey

I am trying to figure out how this hurts us, which should be the default approach to everything that this administration does, but I just can't see it. Presumably we have never been in the business of searching and seizing the property and assets of INTERPOL, so I don't know what we are really giving up here. We don't have to let INTERPOL operate here at all, but we do so because we think it is in our best interest. As to what purpose is served by extending this police agency the same immunity that diplomats have, at a minimum it keeps an overzealous judge from seizing an INTERPOL limousine or bank account on behalf of a private litigant who has a judgment against a completely unrelated party from the agent's home country. It may also be necessary to shield classified information from court-ordered discovery (possibly initiated by the same attorneys who are aggressively defending our GITMO detainees).

Quite frankly, if this was any other administration, I would presume that this is a necessary and justified amendment that is intended to ensure that our own law enforcement agents operating in foreign jurisdictions can enjoy the same level of immunity for our property and assets. As an INTERPOL member state, the US ought to have some administrative avenues within the organization itself to oversee its activities within our borders; and if we don't, we retain the right to exclude or expell its agents as necessary.

Having said all that, I am still suspicious that there is more than meets the eye here - but I don't think it does us any good to raise a stink until we know what the real issues are.
Clyde

I didn't mean to suggest that INTERPOL now holds S&S over us - but that we no longer hold S&S powers over it. We keep our own law-enforcement organizations accountable through being able to review in total the history of any transaction - those doors are now closed vis-a-vis INTERPOL.

I understand how and why these privileges and immunities apply to sovereign nations and organizations such as the UN, but I cannot fathom what purpose is served by extending them to a police organization. Simply beyond my comprehension what end purpose is served that is consistent with our Constitution.
seedplanter

It appears to me the end of this article is a misleading conclusion because the Act is stating that the possessions and property of the International Org. is immune to search and seizure, not empowered to invoke search and seizure on the citizens of the US.

Although, the operation of an International Police force that is Immune from being searched or can't be held accountable by our own government is a breeding ground for corruption, wouldn't you say?
Clyde

INTERPOL is more a cooperative than an entity - police organizations around the world participate. Our own DOJ has "INTERPOL" officers. By doing this, Obama has taken a section of our own Department of Justice and placed it beyond Freedom of Information and Search & Seizure.

Is this a prelude to an international governing body with dominion over the US? The implications are incredibly broad.

It's truly frightening.

Our recourse is to demand the Senate hold hearings on this without delay.
kaboom

This is considered Treason correct? What is the recourse, who do we need to scream at to file charges?
MSGT's Daughter

Now can "we get our knickers in a bunch?" This is not good, Clyde. Can we have him arrested for treason yet? He is the criminal in chief, you know?

Obama exempts INTERPOL from search and seizure on US lands

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