Amash Sponsors Law to END Civil Asset Forfeiture
Congressman Introduces Bill to End Civil Asset Forfeiture Nationwide, Allow Victims to Be Reimbursed
TOPICS:Civil ForfeitureCongressConstitutionMatt AgoristPoliceProperty
DECEMBER 18, 2020
By Matt Agorist
For decades now, federal government and their cohorts in law enforcement have been carrying out theft of the citizenry on a massive scale. We’re not talking about taxes, but an insidious power known as Civil Asset Forfeiture (CAF).
The 1980s-era laws were designed to drain resources from powerful criminal organizations, but CAF has become a tool for law enforcement agencies across the U.S. to steal money and property from countless innocent people.
No criminal charge is required for this confiscation, resulting in easy inflows of cash for law enforcement departments and the proliferation of abuse. This phenomenon is known as “policing for profit.”
In the last 30 years, the amount of “profit” stolen through CAF has skyrocketted.
According to the US Department of Justice, the value of asset forfeiture recoveries by US authorities from 1989-2010 was $12,667,612,066, increasing on average 19.5% per year.
In 2008, law enforcement took over $1.5 billion from the American public. While this number seems incredibly large, just a few years later, in 2014, that number tripled to nearly $4.5 billion.
When we examine these numbers, and their nearly exponential growth curve, it appears that police in America are getting really good at separating the citizen from their property — not just really good, criminally good.
The good news is that Americans have been waking up to this Orwellian notion of police robbing the citizens, and they are taking a stand. Even politicians have spoken out against this practice of robbing the innocent.
In 2018, a lawsuit forced the city of Philadelphia to abolish their CAF program and pay back millions it stole from its victims. This was just one city, however, which is why this week, Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.) introduced the Civil Asset Forfeiture Elimination Act to repeal civil asset forfeiture nationwide.
