State and local police are badly needed to help overwhelmed federal immigration authorities apprehend and detain illegal aliens in the interior of our country.

• Only about 5,000 active agents are enforcing immigration laws in the interior of the country
• There are 11-18 million illegal aliens in the United States with hundreds of thousands more arriving every year
• Illegal aliens outnumber federal immigration agents 2,200-to-1
• More than 600,000 state and local law enforcement officers come into contact with illegal aliens every day
• Many state and local officers are unsure of their authority when they come in contact with illegal aliens who have committed no additional crimes
• Some state and local policies even forbid officers from cooperating with federal immigration agents, despite a federal law prohibiting such policies

The CLEAR Act (H.R.2406) clarifies state and local officers' authority to detain illegal aliens and requires the federal government to respond to state and local requests to pick up and remove the illegal aliens.

Introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on May 14, 2009, the CLEAR Act:

• increases SCAAP funds for communities that work with, and not against, federal immigration enforcement efforts, and recognizes the important role local governments’ play in securing our homeland;
• provides recognition of inherent state and local law enforcement authority to help enforce immigration law, but leaves it up to individual agencies to determine how big a role they will play;
• improves information sharing with the federal government;
• sets requirements for the federal government to expeditiously remove criminal aliens; and
• increases federal resources for local governments that choose to assist in immigration enforcement.