South Gate Police: “We Will Never Deport Anybody”
South Gate Police: “We Will Never Deport Anybody”
Local police is concerned with lack of reported crimes by undocumented residents.
• By Alejandro Lopez de Haro
•Email the author
• 5:45 am
Presione aquí para leer en español.
Most residents, with not much to fear, will report a crime. However, most undocumented residents will be too afraid to report any abuse towards them out of fear of being deported. This is why the South Gate Police Department (SGPD) wants to let undocumented residents know that they will not be deported if they report a crime to them.
“We will never deport anybody, [because] that is not the function of a local police department,” said Captain Keith Hupp of the SGPD. “We don’t care if the crime happened to someone who is here illegally, we will investigate it the same way.”
Local police insist that information pertaining to the status of a person does not get sent off to other agencies that deal with immigration.
“They are not going to have that information sent off to another agency,” said Capt. Hupp. “We are not [Immigration Customs and Enforcement] and we do not deport if you are the victim of a crime.”
The SGPD primary concern is curbing local crime, and as a result needs residents to report offenses to take action.
“If we don’t get [crimes] reported [then] we don’t know there is a problem,” said Capt. Hupp. "[Criminals] will continue to get away with it.”
South Gate Police:
