Thread: AR: Federal Agency to Visit Rogers

Federal Agency to Visit Rogers

By Lori Harrison-Stone
THE MORNING NEWS
Originally published March 14, 2007 7:09 PM CDT in News/Republished Mar 17, 2007 THE MORNING NEWS

ROGERS -- The unit chief for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will visit Rogers next week, although the agency has yet to notify the city of its decision on the 287(g) program.

Mayor Steve Womack applied in November to the federal program that trains and certifies local law enforcement officers to act in specified capacities as immigration officers.

Jesus R. Ramos, unit chief for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of Homeland Security, is expected to meet with Womack and visit the Rogers Police Department. Mike Gilhooly, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Ramos was in the field and unable to be contacted Wednesday. Gilhooly wasn't sure if other representatives of the agency will be included in the Rogers visit, but confirmed the trip is planned, calling it a "routine site visit."

Womack considers the upcoming visit a favorable sign about his pending application to the program, but he hadn't yet received an official response on Wednesday.

"I think they'll find our intentions quite noble," he said.

The issue isn't about prejudice, but about addressing the problems that come with illegal immigration, Womack said. He announced a plan to deal with illegal immigration soon after a Rogers police officer was shot in October while pursuing a search warrant at the home of illegal immigrants involved in a narcotics sting operation. If the 287(g) program is approved for Rogers, Womack hopes it will send a message to illegal immigrants and they won't want to move into the community.

If there wasn't a need to deal with illegal immigrants, the city and other government agencies could do more to help legal immigrants become acclimated to their new home, he said.

Police Chief Steve Helms isn't sure how the 287(g) program will work in Rogers because each law enforcement agency in the program has it's own agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that specifies the agency's authority. But Helms is already thinking about what kind of officer might be best to train in the program.

Those officers are likely to come from a variety of divisions within the department, Helms said. Which divisions will benefit from an officer trained in the program will depend on the city's agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he noted.

If the city is accepted, he plans to choose experienced officers with a strong potential for longevity with the department and an interest in the program. Womack has said he would push for at least six officers to train through the program.

"The main thing is that the people we come in contact with, we'll have the ability to confirm their identity," Helms said.

The program includes an automated identification system that takes digital images of fingerprints that will provide immediate information on immigration status and any contact that individual has had with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

AT A GLANCE

Immigration and 287(g)

Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions after training. The local officers then function under the supervision of sworn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

SOURCE: www.ice.gov/partners

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/ ... visits.txt

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Comments being left after the article too.

All law enforcement officers should be trained in immigration enforcement. It waste american taxpayers funds to have senior federal employees to make numerous trips to a city to decide if it has good intentions. What a waste of taxpayer funds.

Springdale : LULAC director: City’s bid doubtful
BY LIZ BOCH

Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007


SPRINGDALE — The national executive director of a Hispanic organization said Tuesday he doubts Rogers will be approved for a federal program that allows cities to enforce immigration laws.

“If Rogers gets approved, I’d be shocked,” said Brent Wilkes of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “We’d be really shocked.”

Wilkes spoke to two dozen community leaders at Tyson Foods Inc. headquarters in Springdale. After the luncheon, Wilkes said that he left a meeting last month with an official at the Department of Homeland Security confident Rogers’ application to the 287 (g ) program will be denied.

Wilkes met with Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers. Jamie Zuieback, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed the meeting.

Rogers Mayor Steve Womack sent a letter to Myers in November asking to enroll six police officers in the program. It was created in 1996 with an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers train local law enforcement for about five weeks and design a program that allows them to question, detain and process suspected illegal aliens encountered during their daily work.

According to Wilkes, Myers told him that “they’re not doing many, if any, [agreements ] where the officers themselves can be deputized.”

“They’re really looking at only the types of [287 (g ) programs ] involving placing officers at jails as opposed to beat police,” he said. “That’s not their focus.”

The majority of approved requests are from cities, counties and states that implement the program in jails, Wilkes said.

That’s correct, said Richard Rocha, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Of the 10 applications that have been approved, the majority are in jails, Rocha said.

Rocha said neither he nor Myers would divulge the specifics of the conversation.

“We don’t typically comment on pending applications to the program or people who have shown interest in it,” Rocha said.

Womack declined to comment Tuesday through assistant Wendy Shumate. Womack has said since early March that he will not comment to the media on the program.

Rogers was sued in 2003 by Hispanic motorists who claimed racial profiling by police. Wilkes said he’s concerned participation in the federal program could violate the settlement in that case.

The settlement didn’t include monetary damages, but it required police to form a committee that would meet at least twice a year to discuss efforts to connect with the Hispanic community. Included in the settlement were stipulations that Rogers police officers “not request specific documents for the sole purpose of determining someone’s civil immigration status,” and “not initiate police action based solely on a person’s perceived or actual immigration status, nor shall they request specific information for the purpose of determining an individual’s status.” Wilkes and Zuieback said Myers knows of the settlement’s stipulations. “Her response was that they take these issues into consideration when granting 287 (g ),” Wilkes said. “They have approved very few of them.” Womack is scheduled to meet at 9 a. m. today with Jesus Ramos, Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit chief. Shumate said Ramos requested the meeting.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/185136/