http://www.ktsm.com/story_news.sstg?c=2234

ACLU Concerned Over Who Is Enforcing Immigration Law
More concern over the role of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in enforcing immigration policy.


Tuesday, June 20, 2006 — The El Paso County Sheriff's Office is once again under fire. This time, the American Civil Liberties Union, or the A.C.L.U., says the Sheriff's Office took federal law into their own hands after getting a tip about a group of undocumented immigrants.

"Sheriff's went to the house and went into the house to get undocumented immigrants out. They went into a hotel, and got undocumented people out. That is a very, very serious violation of what they're been claiming not to do, which is enforce immigration law," says Ray Ybarra, ACLU of Texas.

That was the topic of an email dating back to April of 2006, obtained by the ACLU through an open record request. The email walks through the bust, that took Sheriff's Deputies to several locations looking for the immigrants. It says that one Border Patrol agent was "disturbed" over deputies being at the location with the immigrants. It goes on to say that Sheriff's Deputies were told to "call Border Patrol who would in turn call ICE if they deemed it necessary." Finally, the email stated that the Border Patrol agent seemed visibly upset over the Sheriff's Office involvement in the case, by following up on information without first contacting federal law enforcement.

"This Sheriff is engaging in immigration enforcement, and then as an after thought calling in the INS," says Will Harrell, Executive Director, ACLU of Texas.

The ACLU says this type of incident has a long lasting effect on the community.

"People are afraid to walk their kids...because they think the sheriff's deputies will be out asking for documents...and if people are afraid to leave their houses then that's a huge human rights issue," says Ybarra.

The spokesperson for the Sheriff's Office was not available for comment.