Illegal Immigration Tied In With Drugs, Meese Says

U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III claimed 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 said that as many as half of the people accused of selling cocaine in some Southern California counties, which he did not name, 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 made his comments as the luncheon speaker at a conference of the Securities Regulation Institute at the Hotel del Coronado.

At a press conference afterward, he seemed to downplay the significance of a newly released Justice Department report that calls for overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Miranda ruling, which requires police to advise suspects of their right to remain silent and to be represented by an attorney before questioning them.

“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” that “squarely presented that issue.”