Meese Links Illegal Aliens, Drug Problems

U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said Thursday that illegal immigration and drug trafficking are bound together in “a symbiotic relationship,” and that ending illegal immigration would be an important step toward solving the nation’s narcotics problems.

Meese contended that the flow of undocumented immigrants across the U.S.-Mexican border “provides traffickers an ideal environment to move their contraband” and “contributes to an environment of general lawlessness on the border in which drug traffickers thrive.”

He further stated that as many as half of the people accused of selling cocaine in some Southern California counties are undocumented aliens. He said “one city in this area reports that 90% of all narcotics arrestees during the past year were illegal aliens. And in another area, that is closer to 100%.”

Meese refused to name the communities.

He made his comments at a conference of securities lawyers and regulators in Coronado. At a press conference afterward, he seemed to downplay the significance of a newly released Justice Department report that calls for overturning the Supreme Court ruling that requires police to advise suspects of their rights.

“The purpose of the staff study was to provide a compilation of cases, a compilation of research data,” Meese said. “ . . . It was not an action document per se. It was really to provide background for decisions that have to be made in regard to the Miranda issue.”

Meese said his department would challenge the Miranda ruling if “a case comes along.”

“We’re looking at all the cases, because we take a position on almost all cases relating to this field, the interrogation of criminal suspects,” Meese said.

He added, “I think if a case came along that squarely presented that issue, we would have no hesitation in saying that there ought to be a better alternative than the old Miranda decision.”

Asked what kind of alternative he had in mind, Meese suggested videotaping police interrogations to insure that there is no coercion, or taking “stenographic statements in which the stenographer would be able to testify.”

Asked at the press conference how he thought the minority community might react to his linking illegal immigration to drug trafficking, Meese said he thought the minority community would agree, and he pointed out that he had not specified a particular minority group.

Meese was the luncheon speaker at the conference of the Securities Regulation Institute at the Hotel del Coronado.