Immigration enforcement office to open in Union Gap

[Jean]

http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/288491203630300

Published on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Printable Version E-mail to a Friend

Immigration enforcement office to open in Union Gap
By LEAH BETH WARD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC


The federal government will open a special immigration enforcement office in Union Gap next year as part of a national campaign to deport criminal fugitives and other immigration violators, officials said Tuesday.

The Fugitive Operations Team will be located in a new building planned for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Ahtanum Ridge Business Park, according to Bill Lesh, a spokesman in Portland for the U.S. General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings.

Dan Tilley, a Yakima businessman and partner in Ahtanum Ridge, said the General Services Administration will lease the building from Carotex Construction of Texas, which will handle construction. Tilley said it will be about 22,000 to 25,000 square feet but he declined to reveal the cost.

"I can say it will be pretty expensive because all new federal buildings have a lot of new security and anti-blast protection," he said.

The new enforcement effort will be the third Fugitive Operations Team started in the Pacific Northwest by ICE in the last three years. Currently there are offices in Portland and Seattle, which cover all of Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

In a telephone interview, Neil Clark, director of detention and removals for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Seattle, estimated that the team could be up and running in six months. He said the decision to create a Yakima Valley office, which will cover Eastern Washington, was "strategic" based on "our workload over there." But he said all three Northwest teams have authority to operate anywhere in the region, which is home to an estimated 8,000 immigrant fugitives.

By the end of next year, Congress will have authorized 72 similar teams across the country. Currently there are 45.

Clark said the enhanced enforcement won't amount to raids or sweeps of undocumented workers but would target potentially dangerous criminals previously found by a judge to be in the United States illegally.

"We try to do the most egregious cases, those who pose the most risk to the public."

Clark declined to say how many enforcement officers would make up the team.

"We don't release staffing levels because if I said 'two,' everyone would feel safe, and if I said '100,' there would be a stampede out of the area."

Last month, officials arrested 40 people in Yakima and the Tri-Cities as part of the fugitive initiative. Of the 40, 15 were arrested in Yakima, 10 in Pasco, five in Kennewick, six in Sunnyside and two each in Prosser and Toppenish. Ten of those individuals were deported immediately; the rest are in the appeals process, Clark said.

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[MW]

Clark said the enhanced enforcement won't amount to raids or sweeps of undocumented workers but would target potentially dangerous criminals previously found by a judge to be in the United States illegally.

"We try to do the most egregious cases, those who pose the most risk to the public."

Who gets to decide which illegals pose the most risk to the public? Please define "most risk." In other words, what exactly does it take to qualify an illegal for apprehension? We already know drunk driving, driving without a license & insurance, social security fraud, forgery, illegal entry, and urinating in public, giving false information to a police officer, and re-entry after deportation (example: Elvira) doesn't count. Short of murder, what exactly does qualify an illegal immigrant for arrest and prison or deportation? Furthermore, what about the medical side of the issue. Each and every illegal that enters the United States without a comprehensive medical screening poses a serious "risk" to the public!

Get off your butts and apprehend and deport every illegal you find!