Minuteman want police more active in immigration issues

[jimpasz]

http://www.dailyherald.com/search/print ... ?id=209539


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McHenry County pushed to do more
Minuteman want police more active in immigration issues

By Patrick Garmoe
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, July 20, 2006

Nearly in tears, Lisa Stanton of rural Union stepped up to the podium during Tuesday night’s McHenry County Board meeting and begged members to urge local law enforcement agencies to crack down on illegal immigrants.

“I’m terrified every time my husband leaves the house,” she said. She worries that he might end up in a wreck with an illegal immigrant driving around without valid insurance or a driver’s license, she said.

Just such a thing happened last month, police said, when a man who had been deported three times was charged with drunken driving and killing a Crystal Lake man.

Stanton was one of about 20 people who attended the meeting to say law enforcement needs to do more to catch and deport illegal immigrants, instead of just passing the problem along to federal authorities.

Minuteman members have been bringing this request to officials throughout the suburbs, including a stop last week in Elgin.

Rosanna Pulido, director of the Illinois Minuteman Project, said illegal immigrants often only get arrested if they commit a crime, not simply because they are here illegally.

“The police may complain that they don’t enforce immigration laws because it is a federal matter. Kidnapping, bank robbery, counterfeiting, child pornography and firearms violations are all federal maters, and yet the McHenry County sheriff’s (office) and McHenry area local police departments do not hesitate to get involved and work with the feds,” Pulido said. “I believe they have an obligation to do the same with immigration laws.”

She requested law enforcement officials get training so they’d be able to spot phony Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and green cards. She said the county should establish a new policy that those people will be fully prosecuted.

Algonquin Police Chief Russell Laine said his officers routinely work with federal authorities on illegal immigration cases, but his officers can’t arrest someone based solely on whether he or she is here legally.

“We in no way go out looking for immigration violations. We don’t have the authority and we don’t have the expertise,” Laine said.

That’s why the Illinois Minuteman group also requests departments apply to become 287(g) partners, which is a program wherein officers are trained to spot illegal immigrants and detain them.

Gail Montenegro, spokeswoman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Illinois, said federal officers already routinely work with local police.

“We’re responsible for enforcing more than 400 local statutes. Part of how we do that is with the help of local law enforcement,” she said.

Police can’t do much more than they already are, said McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi.

“We certainly would like to see more prosecutions also,” he said.

But that’s up to the federal immigrations authorities, not local departments, he said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is notified by local police about an illegal immigrant, but only they can decide whether to prosecute the person for being in the United States illegally, he said.




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[fedupinwaukegan]

The Illinois minutemen are having a meeting about this soon. I'm going to email my mayor and police chief asking if they'll send a representative (Waukegan, IL).

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We will be showing a video at the Illinois Minuteman Meeting at 6:45 pm.
July 31st 2006 Monday in Elgin Illinois.

The video was made in Pecatonica Illinois When Sheriff Daniel Beck and Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain spoke. It will teach us about what can be dome through the Federal programs that have been created for local laws enforcement, for interior enforcement of immigration laws.


We will meet at the
American Legion
820 Liberty Ave
Elgin Illinois

I hope you can join us.