No legally innocent person should have their property seized without charge and without conviction. Since 1967, thousands of Americans have been denied their due process rights when their property was taken and never returned, based only on a mere suspicion of its involvement in criminal activity. These individuals are then left to fight the power of government via a maze of legal hearings, and expend even more of their resources simply to have their property returned. This theft is made even worse when local and state governments involve the federal government in a scheme called “equitable sharing,” which allows 80% of the assets taken to remain the property of the municipal or state government.

After victory on election day, I will draft legislation to prohibit the use of civil asset forfeiture at the federal level, and ban the federal government from any scheme - like equitable sharing - that would allow local and state governments to bypass laws banning civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture is legalized theft. Individuals, and their property, deserve a presumption of innocence until proven guilty.