CO. Court ruling won’t alter sheriff’s policy

Court ruling won’t alter sheriff’s policy

Crime database checked as a matter of procedures

Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 4:00 am
By ANTHONY A. MESTAS | anthonym@chieftain.com

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Arizona's immigration law Monday will not change law enforcement operations in Pueblo County, Sheriff Kirk Taylor said Tuesday.

"I think with the current state of Colorado's law, a combination of Senate Bill 90 as well as the pending implementation of the Secure Communities program, is almost the same as what they upheld," Taylor said.

Under SB90, signed in 2006, any peace officer who has probable cause to believe that the person they have arrested is in the country illegally must report the incident to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office.

The federal Secure Communities program cross-references fingerprints of anyone booked into local law enforcement custody against records from the FBI and Homeland Security department. In January 2011, former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order for the state to join the program.

Taylor said the ruling only codified the county's current policy used during an investigative phase.

"I don't see it as a big change in policy from at least this office," Taylor said.

As part of their decision, the justices unanimously upheld the "show me your papers" requirement and struck down provisions that created state crimes allowing local police to arrest people for federal immigration violations.

"If we pull someone over and they don't have a driver's license, we are probably going to write them a ticket for not having a driver's license. Can you extrapolate the Arizona ruling to say that is then reasonable suspicion to attempt to identify if they are illegal? I think that would be yes," Taylor said.

"But I'm not going to send out a memo saying, 'Now that we have the Arizona ruling, if someone doesn't have a driver's license, you have the authority to go find out where this person is originally from.’ ”

Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut also weighed in on the court's decision Tuesday.

"My view is that the U.S. Constitution vests exclusive authority over immigration matters with the national, not state, government," he said in a statement.

"The court correctly ruled that most of Arizona’s law was pre-empted by federal immigration law. But racial profiling claims are likely to increase because the court allowed one key provision to stand that says federal law did not pre-empt Arizona’s instruction to its police to check the immigration status of people they detain."

Thiebaut said he hopes Colorado legislators will not pass such a provision.

"If it does, I expect it to be challenged as it discriminates on the basis of race and ethnic background," Thiebaut said.

Court ruling won