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INTERPOL Granted Diplomatic Immunity In the US
ShakaUVM writes "A couple of weeks ago without any fanfare or notice in the media, President Obama granted INTERPOL full diplomatic immunity while conducting investigations on American soil. While INTERPOL has been allowed to operate in the US in the past, under an executive order by President Reagan, they've had to follow the same rules as the FBI, CIA, etc., while on American soil. This means, among other things, the new executive order makes INTERPOL immune to Freedom of Information Act requests and that INTERPOL agents cannot be punished for most any crimes they may commit. Hopefully the worst we'll see from this is INTERPOL agents ignoring their speeding tickets." Update: 01/05 02:57 GMT by KD : Reader davecb pointed out an ABC News blog that comes to pretty much the opposite conclusion as to the import of the executive order.
Means they can break into people's houses to conduct illegal searches without recourse?
And kidnap Americans, to take them across the border, for interrogation, also without judicial recourse?
Doesn't it?
Congratulations Mr. President... you just made a successful end-run around the constitution's 11th, 14th, 3rd ammendment, 4th ammendment, 5th ammendment, 6th ammendment, and the rule of law.
Ok, let's take that one at a time.
>>Interpol has no police force. It conducts no investigations. It doesn't arrest anyone. As an international organization it was not subject to FOIA requests anyway, because it's not a department of the federal government.
It has an office, it has employees, it has files. They are now immune to search and seizure by the federal government.
>>As a previous poster noted, this is NOT DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY.
It is diplomatic immunity. Learn to fucking read. There's more kinds of diplomatic immunity than the immunities given to diplomats.
>>This is immunity from attachment of any property that Interpol may have in the USA.
Yes.
>>Any employees of Interpol, if any, stationed in the USA can and would still be arrested for crimes they commit
No, they are immune to suit and legal proceedings for anything they did while acting as an employee of interpol.
>>In summary, both the original submitter and basically every comment I've seen so far are not just wrong, they are comically wrong.
Learn to read. It helps in life.
Some references:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/International_Organizations_Immunities_Act
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12425
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-amending-executive-order-12425
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunity
>>Either you don't understand the difference between "immune to prosecution" and "immune to prosecution for official acts"
There's three categories people can fall into:
Immune to Prosecution
Immune to Prosecution for Official Acts
Not Immune
They have the middle category, just like consular officials.
>>Now if I were an employee of INTERPOL, I would be prosecutable under U.S. and local law. As in NOT full immunity.
By full immunity, I meant they have attained some form of immunity in all six categories of diplomatic immunity. They didn't have all of them before. If you'd like me to have said in the summary that they now have "the same kind of diplomatic immunity consular officials at embassies have", well, you're certainly justified in saying so.
>>And you know what INTERPOL's official business is in the U.S.? Handing information provided by other nations' police forces over to U.S. police forces. That's it.
Huh, I guess they don't maintained databases of criminals, child abusers, ensure secure communications between police agencies, help track down fugitives, assume crisis management of developing situations, or police training.
Do you even know what you're talking about, or do you just parrot what you read in other comments?
How about, "immunity from suit and every form of Judicial process as is enjoyed by foreign governments, except to the extent that such organizations may expressly waive their immunity"
The U.S. is giving a foreign body the ability to operate on our soil without any possible action for civil reprisal. Not a big deal for a 5 acre plot for an ambassador to operate a foreign embassy... but a foreign police authority? It throws due process out the window. I can sue my local police department if they violate my rights, I can only lube up if interpol does it.
Treaties > Constitution; that's why this limits our sovereignty.
Modding me -1 troll doesn't make me wrong.
is probably guaranteed by the Constitution.
It doesn't make them real, though.
The UN wouldn't exist if it weren't for the US. Who else would fight their wars (oops, I mean peacekeeping missions)?
>>Apology not accepted.
Well, then fuck off then.
I mean, seriously. I admit when I'm wrong, unlike all the political hacks on here. The net statement was entirely correct that they now have all the diplomatic immunities.
>>So I guess it just boils down to Interpol not paying taxes that you're so pissed off about.
No, like I said, I'm concerned with transparency in law enforcement.
>>The courts, legislature, and president can still order seizure of files.
And no, they can't. That's the entire point of what was just ordered - their files are now inviolate.
If you're going to split hairs, you should damn well better make sure you're not wrong on your own points.
And I am guessing that what it really boils down to is that you are one of those stinky, rabid Obama supporters(that can't accept an honest(this is a funny word to use in conjunction with Obama) apology). It used to be that the slogan was 'My country right or wrong' but it seems to have evolved in 2010 to be 'My coloured president right or wrong'(those who dispute this are lying, manipulative scumbags with xenophobic, racist agendas that hate all of the niceness, goodness, and freedoms that we won for you with our noble blood whilst simultaneously fighting sixteen world wars).
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
so we need a global police force. this is obviously superior to one country being the world's police force, right? so interpol in the usa, and everywhere else, obviously makes sense
however, you have american nationalist retards who believe its some sort of horrible insult to sovereignty. its not, morons, its just common sense in a complicated world. so get your heads out of your asses, its not a secret plot to destroy the usa. get your paranoid schizophrenia treated and take more medication please
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it