(USNewsMag.com) – The Los Angeles Police Department is requesting permission from the federal government to allow non-citizen Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients to be granted police powers so they can arrest American citizens.
The request follows a California law passed in 2022 that allows DACA recipients to serve as police officers, with the first class of nine DACA recipients to graduate and be sworn in as police officers this spring. There is already one DACA recipient who has graduated from the police academy that could begin working at any time and six who recently graduated from the academy that are sworn peace officers.
As the Los Angeles Police Department prepares for their graduation, a policy detailing how DACA recipients can be legally armed to serve as police officers was unanimously approved in December by the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. However, the proposed policy is not yet official.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore stated that the police department has requested the Department of Justice alter its rules so that the newly sworn-in police officers are able to carry firearms. Moore said that the department has worked with the DOJ about their desire “to form a model policy.”
The idea of DACA recipients serving as police officers has many questions, including whether non-citizens should ever be allowed to arrest U.S. citizens. There are also questions about what would happen if a DACA recipient were to lose their legal status. Moore added that instead of them losing their legal status, he sees DACA recipients being recognized as “fully functional members of our society.”
California is not the only state where lawmakers are proposing laws that would allow a DACA recipient to carry a firearm. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin proposed legislation in December that would allow DACA recipients to join the U.S. military. Durbin said the legislation would allow the DACA recipients who join the military to become U.S. citizens.
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