Claim: A new executive order gives INTERPOL license to operate with impunity within the U.S.
MIXTURE OF TRUE AND FALSE INFORMATION
Example: [Collected via e-mail, December 2009]
Comment: Is this true?
December 17, 2009
Executive Order — Amending Executive Order 12425
EXECUTIVE ORDER
AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO
ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including
In a nut shell as far as I can decipher this is the consequence of this executive order: INTERPOL (which is the police arm of the UNITED NATIONS) now has unfettered access to US sovereign territory. INTERPOL may conduct criminal and other investigation unfettered by supervision by and autonomous of the US Department of Justice. INTERPOL may bring criminal complaints against US citizens and I gather the cases would be heard by the WORLD COURT in the Hague. The GUARANTEES the US CONSTITUTION affords ALL US CITIZENS re SEARCH and SEIZURE, SELF INCRIMINATION, RENDITION, EXTRADITION etc is no longer APPLICABLE. In the event INTERPOL causes GRIEVOUS INJURY to ANY US CITIZEN by virtue of MALFEASANCE , INTERPOL is now IMMUNE from any CRIMINAL or CIVIL CONSEQUENCE. They have been granted COMPLETE DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY.
BARACK OBAMA
Origins: On 17 December 2009, President Barack Obama issued an executive order which extended to
INTERPOL, the international police organization, an additional subset of the standard "privileges, exemptions and immunities" granted to public international organizations by the U.S. under the International Organizations Immunities Act. President Obama's executive order was an amendation of one issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 which first applied the International Organizations Immunities Act to INTERPOL.
While the fact of the executive order is real, the claims that it gives INTERPOL license to start conducting warrantless searches, arresting U.S. citizens, and violating other constitutional guarantees to due process are exaggerated.
The common perception of INTERPOL as a global police organization that sends agents around the world to track down suspects, make arrests, and haul criminals before international tribunals (such as the United Nations) for trial is erroneous. INTERPOL has no police force, and it does not conduct criminal
investigations or make arrests. It's merely an administrative organization that services its member countries (currently 188 in number) by facilitating and coordinating the sharing of law enforcement organization. If, for example, one country should issue an arrest warrant for a suspect currently residing in a second country, INTERPOL merely passes along the warrant and related information to the second
As the New York Times noted, the granting of additional immunities to INTERPOL was prompted by that organization's opening a liaison office at the United Nations'
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan extended some rights — including immunity from lawsuits or prosecution for official That changed in 2004, when Interpol opened a liaison office at the United Nations in "When the office opened in 2004, we said look, we'd like to have the Interpol staff working in the office in The State Department recommended approving the request, but the Bush White House did not complete the matter before its term ended, and so it rolled over.
When public international organizations are operating on United States soil, a law allows the president to grant them certain rights and immunities, just as foreign embassies receive privileges. More than
Last updated: 4 January 2010
Sources: |
Savage, Charlie. "Order on Interpol Work Inside U.S. Irks Conservatives." 30 December 2009.