re: #335 darthstar

Not just money, but property. I think it was during Reagan’s admin that they started that practice. I remember reading that there were more than a few very rich people who got pissed off when their kids got busted on their yachts in Florida with a half ounce of coke, or coming back from Canada in dad’s car with a roach in the ashtray.

It got worse than that. Some jurisdictions would actually test for cocaine on any found cash of any significant level. At one point in time some 80% of $100 bills in circulation had cocaine contamination. This led to cash being confiscated as ‘drug money’ merely because it had cocaine contamination.

Departments furthered this pursuit because the jurisdiction that confiscated the money was allowed to keep it for their departmental budget.

You had people moving cross country (usual targets) with all the belongings and cash with them, pulled over, getting their savings taken and having to prove their innocence.

Putting a bunch of business owners in jail because they hired illegal aliens is a very clumsy solution with huge downside potential.