Alan Simpson: “But let us be very clear. I say to Senator DeWine and Senator Craig--let me tell you, the law before 1986 was that the…”

“But let us be very clear. I say to Senator DeWine and Senator Craig--let me tell you, the law before 1986 was that the INS could go do a warrantless search, ladies and gentlemen. Before we changed the law, with this linkage of the ACLU and the agricultural workers and the growers, the law of the United States was just like this for everybody else. The FBI could go into a field in plain view for a body or drugs, and with a warrantless search go forward. The INS could do that, the FBI could do that, the DEA. In 1986 we changed it. So the requirement that we have now is the special law. That is what is fascinating in this debate, I must say. I just think I have been here too long. This was on the books. There is not a single other law enforcement agency in the United States, when they come upon an open field and in plain view see something that gives them probable cause to believe there is a violation of the law--they go and do it. The only agency of the Federal Government that cannot is the INS. That is where we are. At least let us be realistic about what we have done. We retain it. That is the way it is. Move on to the next item of business. But let us be totally candid. And let us not have anybody with their own opinion; let us all have our own facts. That was the law before 1986.”