Amending Executive Order 12425, Busch, Obama, whats the difference

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 17, 2009
Executive Order -- Amending Executive Order 12425

Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Executive Orders

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 section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 16, 2009.

Bill Clinton also amended this order in 1995 as follows:

And so what the hell does that mean? Is it the end of U.S. Sovereignty or Interpol?

As it was Signed by President Reagan in  1983:

Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983
International Criminal Police Organizations

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, including Section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (59 Stat. 669, 22 U.S.C. 288), it is hereby ordered that the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), in which the United States participates pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 263a, is hereby designated as a public international organization entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions and immunities conferred by the International Organizations Immunities Act  (our note, the following in red is the section Obama has ordered removed) ; except those provided by Section 2(c), the portions of Section 2(d) and Section 3 relating to customs duties and federal internal-revenue importation taxes, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act. This designation is not intended to abridge in any respect the privileges, exemptions or immunities which such organization may have acquired or may acquire by international agreement or by Congressional action.

Ronald Reagan

The White House,

June 16, 1983.

What are  Sections 2c and 2d?

Sec. 2.

International organizations shall enjoy the status, immunities, exemptions, and privileges set forth in this section, as follows:

(c)	Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.
(d)	Insofar as concerns customs duties and internal-revenue taxes imposed upon or by reason of importation, and the procedures in connection therewith; the registration of foreign agents; and the treatment of official communications, the privileges, exemptions, and immunities to which international organizations shall be entitled shall be those accorded under similar circumstances to foreign governments.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:59 a.m., June 17, 1983]

Sections 4, 5 and 6, deal with employment insurance and taxes,  social security, property taxes.

Section 7 has been left intact and reads as follows:

Sec. 7.

(a) Persons designated by foreign governments to serve as their representatives in or to international organizations and the officers and employees of such organizations, and members of the immediate families of such representatives, officers, and employees residing with them, other than nationals of the United States, shall, insofar as concerns laws regulating entry into and departure from the United States, alien registration and fingerprinting, and the registration of foreign agents, be entitled to the same privileges, exemptions, and immunities as are accorded under similar circumstances to officers and employees, respectively, of foreign governments, and members of their families.

(b) Representatives of foreign governments in or to international organizations and officers and employees of such organizations shall be immune from suit and legal process relating to acts performed by them in their official capacity and falling within their functions as such representatives, officers, or employees except insofar as such immunity may be waived by the foreign government or international organization concerned.

(c) Section 3 of the Immigration Act approved May 26, 1924, as amended (U.S.C., title 8, sec. 203), is hereby amended by striking out the period at the end thereof and inserting in lieu thereof a comma and the following:

``and (7) a representative of a foreign government in or to an international organization entitled to enjoy privileges, exemptions, and immunities as an international organization under the International Organizations Immunities Act, or an alien officer or employee of such an international organization, and the family, attendants, servants, and employees of such a representative, officer, or employee´´.

(d) Section 15 of the Immigration Act approved May 26, 1924, as amended (U.S.C., title 8, sec. 215), is hereby amended to read as follows:

``Sec. 15. The admission to the United States of an alien excepted from the class of immigrants by clause (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), or (7) of section 3, or declared to be a nonquota immigrant by subdivision (e) of section 4, shall be for such time and under such conditions as may be by regulations prescribed (including, when deemed necessary for the classes mentioned in clause (2), (3), (4), or (6) of section 3 and subdivision (e) of section 4, the giving of bond with sufficient surety, in such sum and containing such conditions as may be by regulations prescribed) to insure that, at the expiration of such time or upon failure to maintain the status under which admitted, he will depart from the United States: Provided, That no alien who has been, or who may hereafter be, admitted into the United States under clause (1) or (7) of section 3, as an official of a foreign government, or as a member of the family of such official, or as a representative of a foreign government in or to an international organization or an officer or employee of an international organization, or as a member of the family of such representative, officer, or employee, shall be required to depart from the United States without the approval of the Secretary of State.´´

Bill Clinton also ammended Reagans order in 1995 as follows:

Executive Order 12971 of September 15, 1995 Amendment to Executive Order No. 12425 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities upon the International Criminal Police Organization (‘‘INTERPOL’’) it is hereby ordered that Executive Order No. 12425 be amended by deleting, in the first sentence, the words ‘‘the portions of Section 2(d) and’’ and the words ‘‘relating to customs duties and federal internal-revenue importation taxes’’.

William J. Clinton

The White House,

September 15, 1995.

This issue on the blogoshpere has generated everything from screams of totalitarianism to "it's a non-event", my guess determined by whichever president or political party it is you wish to hate.

My own interpretation is that it is getting way to close to "diplomatic Immunity" for "police" for my own liking. And though there are obviously  examples of times when various police organizations need to and should work together, LARGE police organizations make me somewhat uncomfortable.

But what really scares the hell out of me are "executive orders". 

Executive Orders carry the full force of law.  It maybe that in Wendall's Phillips times when he stated
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," the press could be relied upon to full fill their duties stated by
Justice Hugo Black: 

The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people.

I'm thinking we are screwed!Add to Technorati Favorites