Thread: Arizona cities struggle to implement new immigration laws

Arizona cities struggle to implement new immigration laws

Grant Martin -
Apr. 10, 2011 12:00 AM
News21

In Arizona, no city has declared itself an official "city of refuge" or begun to issue municipal identification cards. But some cities have been informally labeled sanctuary cities because of their illegal-immigrant-reporting practices.

Shortly after Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070 into law in April 2010, Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said he believed that Chandler, Mesa and Phoenix all had policies that violated the new law. He warned that municipalities that are not in compliance could face state sanctions and fines.

Although a federal judge halted several parts of SB 1070 from going into effect, the portion of the law that forbids any state or local official or agency from limiting or restricting the enforcement of federal immigration laws is in effect.

Chandler and Mesa have responded by making subtle alterations to the way they deal with illegal residents.

In Chandler, Police Chief Sherry Kiyler had long ordered her officers not to inquire about the citizenship of crime victims, witnesses, civil-traffic violators or juveniles convicted of non-violent crimes. The policy was recently changed to allow - but not require - officers to investigate the legal status of any detainee.

Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny, who as a state senator voted for SB 1070, has been pushing the city's police department to be more aggressive about checking immigration status.

But city officials are proceeding carefully. Some still feel the sting of a 1997 immigration raid in which Chandler police and federal immigration officials stopped hundreds of Hispanics. In a review of the raid, then-Attorney General Grant Woods said that officers had illegally used racial profiling in determining whom to stop, had violated the constitutional rights of some of the people stopped or detained, and had likely broken federal law.

The raid also produced a major rift between police and the Hispanic community - something Frank Mendoza, a spokesman for Chandler police, doesn't want to see repeated.

"We have a very diverse community," Mendoza said. "We continue to work to uphold that, as it's something we value."

Prior to the passing of SB 1070, the Mesa Police Department had a policy of asking the immigration status of only those arrested for serious crimes. Now Mesa policy allows officers to ask anyone about their citizenship status.

In a 2009 guest column in The Arizona Republic, Pearce called the failure to enforce immigration laws "the greatest threat to our citizens." "Sanctuary-city policies threaten safe neighborhoods, not to mention violate federal law," he wrote. "We must eliminate all sanctuary cities in this state and allow legal citizens the right to sue their government for violating this law."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/ ... -laws.html

In Chandler, Police Chief Sherry Kiyler had long ordered her officers not to inquire about the citizenship of crime victims, witnesses, civil-traffic violators or juveniles convicted of non-violent crimes. The policy was recently changed to allow - but not require - officers to investigate the legal status of any detainee.

when you arrest someone, that is the best time to do a check