Thread: No surge in police referrals to ICE in Colorado

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No surge in police referrals to ICE
Border law that took effect in May has had little impact, cops say

By Burt Hubbard, Rocky Mountain News
August 1, 2006

A 3-month-old state law requiring police to tell federal authorities about suspected illegal immigrants arrested for any crime has led to few additional referrals by metro-area law enforcement agencies.

Denver has not changed its policies for notifying U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement about arrested immigrants who might be deportable.

Aurora has yet to fully implement the law.

Other cities, such as Lakewood and Arvada, have changed procedures on reporting suspected illegal immigrants they cite, but they have not seen a surge in referrals.

"It's been very, very minimal impact for us," said Steve Davis, spokesman for Lakewood police. The department has referred 10 people to ICE since the law went into effect May 1. The department didn't record numbers of referrals before that.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said he does not think the law will put much of a dent in illegal immigration.

"I understand the good intent of the legislature, but does anyone involved think that this is going to impact illegal immigration?" Oates said. "Certainly no one in law enforcement does."

During the regular legislative session, lawmakers passed what they called an anti-sanctuary bill, S.B. 90. Some lawmakers have accused cities such as Denver of protecting illegal immigrants by not asking about immigration status. Denver has denied being a sanctuary city, saying it has always told ICE about foreign- born inmates in its jail. But police officers are directed to get permission before pursuing pure immigration violations unrelated to normal law enforcement.

The new law requires law enforcement agencies to report to ICE anyone they arrest who they have "probable cause" to believe is in the U.S. illegally. ICE decides whether to detain and deport arrestees.

The only exceptions in the law are citations for minor traffic tickets and for domestic violence defendants until their cases are prosecuted - an exclusion intended to make sure victims aren't afraid to report abuse.

The new law also requires each police agency has to report to lawmakers in March how many people it has referred to ICE.

Although ICE has said all jails in Colorado already communicate about foreign-born inmates, the agency doesn't pick up all illegal immigrants, the Rocky Mountain News found in a series published in June.

The series, "The Border Within," found that many immigrants who could have been deported for criminal offenses slipped through the cracks and went on to commit worse crimes in Colorado. The News found that ICE has in the past taken only the most serious offenders because of limited detention space and manpower. ("The Border Within" can be found under Web Extra at RockyMountainNews.com.)

Carl Rusnok, ICE spokesman, said the agency has detained more people through jail referrals in Colorado in recent months, but he did not have any numbers or reasons for it. During the same time, ICE freed up more agents to check jails in Denver, Jefferson County and Larimer County, Rusnok said.

Denver city officials said the law has not changed the way police deal with potential illegal immigrants.

"We've taken the position consistently that the policies we had in place comport with S.B. 90," said City Attorney Cole Finegan.

The city has interpreted the new law to apply only to suspected illegal immigrants who are physically arrested and taken to jail.

"S.B. 90 didn't have any particular definition of an arrestee, so as with any new law we just try to make it make sense," said Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell.

However, officials in other cities, such as Lakewood, Arvada and Thornton, say they think the new law also applies to defendants given summonses to appear later in court for misdemeanors.

So they have changed procedures and are either booking suspected illegal immigrants or jailing them if ICE wants to put a detainer on them.

"If ICE told us to hold, we would take them to jail on the ICE hold," said Cmdr. Gary Kreager of the Arvada Police Department. "If ICE said we're not going to come get them, we would process them and release them."

However, Kreager said so far those cases involving misdemeanors have been rare.

Oates said ICE and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation have come up with a way through the National Crime Information Center database for local authorities to electronically send ICE names of suspected illegal immigrants.

But Oates questions whether ICE can handle all of the referrals it gets.

"The answer is they can't," he said.

State Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, author of the law, said legislators will probably review the law next year for possible adjustments.

"We will take a hard look at that and make sure that there aren't any ambiguities," Wiens said.

What police say

Reaction from some of the largest metro police departments to a new state law requiring them to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about suspected illegal immigrants they arrest:

• DENVER

The police department has not changed its policies. The jail, like most in Colorado, already gives ICE a list of foreign-born inmates. The city interprets "arrested" to refer to only those booked into the jail, not those issued a summons to appear in court on misdemeanors.

• LAKEWOOD

Officers who stop suspected illegal immigrants for misdemeanors will book them and sometimes make them post bond rather than issue them a summons to appear in court, said spokesman Steve Davis. An inmate who doesn't show up in court would lose the cash or collateral posted with the bond.

"More than likely they would be taken to our headquarters, depending on the charge, but almost always they would be booked here, photographed and fingerprinted," Davis said.

• AURORA

Police are a couple of weeks away from fully implementing the law, said Chief Dan Oates.

The city has consistently referred foreign-born arrestees to ICE, but under existing procedures, those cited for petty offenses "would slip through the cracks," he said.

Oates said after he decides how misdemeanor summonses will be referred to ICE, he will retroactively notify the agency of anyone issued a summons since May when the law went into effect.

• THORNTON

The city has a policy similar to Lakewood's, said spokesman Matt Barnes.

"If they (officers) were going to issue them a summons and believe their status is illegal, they would make an arrest," Barnes said. "They would not release them on a summons."

hubbardb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5107

The city has interpreted the new law to apply only to suspected illegal immigrants who are physically arrested and taken to jail

What a nice little loophole for our illegal "friends".
Come on Colorado law makers!!! stop doing assenine legislation such as this!