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  1. #1
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    AR: Regional Immigration Task Force Suggested

    Regional Immigration Task Force Suggested

    By Lori Harrison-Stone
    THE MORNING NEWS
    ROGERS -- Officials with Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement 287(g) program have suggested a task force be formed to handle illegal immigration issues in Northwest Arkansas.

    Mayor Steve Womack said Tuesday he's not opposed to a task force, but it has been eight months since the city applied to participate in the 287(g) program and he'd like an answer. A task force, he said, could be formed after his police officers are trained.

    Since Rogers filed its application to the program in November, Springdale and the Benton County Sheriff's Office have also applied.

    In recent e-mail to Rogers and Springdale police chiefs and Washington and Benton county sheriffs, Roland P. Jones, assistant special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, suggested a meeting be called July 24 between local agencies awaiting 287(g) approval and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to discuss forming a task force.

    "The concept is a true task force, composed of investigators from your agencies who have received the training and the delegated Title 8 authority (perhaps Title 19 Customs authority as well), working with ICE agents," Jones wrote. "This ICE directed task force would be able to focus on a wide range of federal, state and local violations, including but not limited to, illegal aliens that represent a criminal threat in your area. That would open up criminal prosecutions, asset sharing and other related possibilities."

    He also noted a modular detention facility had been directed to the Benton County area in anticipation of developing a 287(g) program, but that mobile building could still be moved to the area and serve as the headquarters for a possible task force.

    Jones couldn't be reached Tuesday for comment.

    Benton County Chief Deputy Don Townsend said Tuesday the task force is just in the discussion stages.

    Womack said the city has done all it has been asked to do to enter the 287(g) program and he's frustrated with the recent shifting of gears to form a regional task force. The federal government has failed to act to solve the illegal immigration problem that has had a dramatic impact on local governments such as Rogers, he said, noting the 287(g) program was developed to address that local need.

    In previous correspondence about forming a task force, Womack said it was mentioned one reason to form a regional task force is because illegal immigrants are likely to move from Rogers to another city in the area if Rogers is admitted to the program.

    "It's not the intent of the city of Rogers to become the hometown of illegal immigrants, a sanctuary for people who come into this country illegally," Womack said. "To say that I'm frustrated by this process would be an understatement."

    Mike Gilhooly, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Washington, D.C., said this week he didn't have any information on Rogers' pending application to the program. But, he said, if accepted, Rogers won't be the first city to participate as had been predicted at one time.

    Herndon, Va., entered an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month, according to a Web site for the federal agency. Gilhooly said Hudson, N.H., has also been accepted into the program.

    He said 375 local law enforcement officers have been trained through the 287(g) program to date. Twenty-one agencies, including the two recently approved city police departments, have entered agreements to participate in the program, Gilhooly said.

    In Hudson, according to news reports, the city first tried to charge illegal immigrants with violation of the state trespassing law, but a state court rejected that strategy. The city then applied for the 287(g) program and will soon have officers trained and ready to put it to use.

    The court ruling against using local law against illegal immigrants reportedly noted the 287(g) program is an indication Congress intended to preclude any unauthorized local immigration enforcement.

    In Herndon, the city established a publicly funded Herndon Official Workers Center in 2005 to connect day laborers, who gathered at a local convenience store, with potential employers. Herndon voters, in May 2006, unseated the mayor and two council members who supported the facility. Then in September, the Herndon's Town Council voted to seek participation in the 287(g) program, according to a Sept. 28, 2006, report in The Washington Post.

    In Rogers, the decision to apply to the program came after an undercover police officer was shot in October while trying to serve a warrant at the home of an illegal immigrant. Officers had already made an arrest at a local motel and went to the home reportedly looking for a second suspect in an illegal drug operation when the shooting occurred.

    Maya Ayon-Torres, who was struggling with police when the gun accidentally discharged, was not charged with a crime, but taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an illegal immigrant. She was then taken to a Memphis, Tenn., federal immigration court and given voluntary deportation. Ayon-Torres was expected to report to Mexican authorities by Jan. 22.

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Temple Black in Louisiana confirmed last month that Ayon-Torres had not yet reported in Mexico. Black couldn't be reached for comment this week.

    AT A GLANCE

    Partnering With The Feds

    The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, effective Sept. 30, 1996, added Section 287(g), to the Immigration and Nationality Act.

    The program authorizes the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions provided that the local law enforcement officers receive appropriate training and function under the supervision of sworn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

    Source: www.ice.gov/partners

    FAST FACT

    Immigration Mayor

    Mayor Steve Womack requested the city participate in the 287(g) program in a letter to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers in November. He wrote:

    "While it is impossible to determine the number of illegal residents residing and/or working in our city, the growing number of incidents involving illegal residents has negatively impacted the quality of life here.

    Source: Steve Womack letter to Homeland Security

    http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/ ... rz287g.prt

  2. #2
    Senior Member Beckyal's Avatar
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    There is no reason that it should take over six months for the federal government to send a response to the state. DHS is slow rolling so that god enforcement cannot be done. Mexico must be providing directions to ensure that their citizens are not going to be returned so that they lose their $20B income.

  3. #3
    MW
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    Senior Member MW's Avatar
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    Beckyal wrote:

    There is no reason that it should take over six months for the federal government to send a response to the state.
    I agree. Obviously the sense of urgency the American public feels regarding this issue is not shared by the DHS.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts athttps://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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