Changing Boundaries of Law Enforcement: State and Local Law Enforcement, Illegal Immigration and Transnational Crime Control. Executive Summary

摘要

The new openness of the world together with international travel migration and communication have substantially increased the threat of criminality that transcends international borders. In response the United States government and the international community are building networks of law enforcement cooperation. In 1998 President Clinton announced the country's , first international crime control strategy. It calls for the creation of a seamless web of cooperating law enforcement agencies, foreign and domestic federal, state and local. The American federal role in addressing transnational criminality began to escalate in the 1970s as international drug trafficking by organized crime grew. Its role in regard to the control of illegal immigration has expanded greatly since the late 1980s in response to the crisis in illegal immigration. This Research in Brief presents findings from an exploratory survey regarding how state and local law enforcement agencies have responded to transnational crime and illegal immigration. It addresses such fundamental questions as: To what extent and in what ways are state and local law enforcement agencies reaching beyond the limits of their geographic jurisdiction to prevent crime and enforce law; How often do state and local law enforcement agencies conduct foreign operations; What networks of transnational law enforcement cooperation in which state and local law enforcement agencies participate already exist. What is the nature of the federal, state and local law enforcement relationships with respect to addressing transnational criminality in general and illegal immigration in particular, and how have these relationships changed in recent years.