Rethinking Special Order 40

Recent decisions by the Trump administration to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents to American cities have raised significant questions about the role of local law enforcement agencies in immigration enforcement. The partnership between immigration enforcement and local police, such as the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), has a long and contested history. Beginning in 1979, LAPD’s Special Order 40 ostensibly prevented police officers from collaborating with federal immigration agents. However, the LAPD often found ways to circumvent the policy during periods of crisis, including the 1992 Los Angeles unrest and the war on gangs in the 1990s. Collaboration between ICE and local police, this article suggests, threatens to weaken trust in law enforcement and undermine public safety.