Thread: AZ Governor may let local police arrest crossers

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/100939

Governor may let local police arrest crossers
Says legislators must kick in more money
By Howard Fischer
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.04.2005
advertisementPHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano said she's now willing to consider letting local police enforce federal immigration law.

But the governor, who vetoed such a plan earlier this year, said that's conditioned on state legislators providing additional cash. Even then she isn't sure it's a good idea.

The governor changed her stance after listening to complaints Wednesday from Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever.

Dever told her during her four-stop border tour it shouldn't be necessary for local agencies to catch illegal border crossers. That's a job for the federal government.

"But the fact is we're saddled with their failure," he said.

"Whether we like it or not, we are engaged" in fighting border crossers, Dever told the governor in Douglas. "We need a law-enforcement answer to controlling illegal immigration."

Earlier this year the Republican-controlled Legislature voted to allow police to enforce federal immigration laws.

Napolitano vetoed the bill, saying it amounted to an unfunded mandate. She said while the legislation would have made enforcing federal immigration laws a local option, people would expect police and deputies to begin detaining illegal entrants.

Dever said that bill was flawed. But he said the Legislature should approve, and Napolitano should sign, one written by law-enforcement officers versus one imposed on them.

While the governor said a new measure, with funding, might be acceptable, an aide said Thursday that money isn't Napolitano's only concern.

Press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said the original bill was opposed by virtually every police agency in the state. One concern was that it could have ruined their relationship with immigrant communities.
Dever's support for a new bill is not shared by Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada.
"
We don't want to tangle with that gigantic problem," he said Thursday. "We're overwhelmed with our own issues here," he said, so getting calls to arrest illegal entrants "would really create havoc for this small department."

Estrada also doubts the Legislature would ever provide enough money to do the job.

Anyway, he questioned how much difference his 42 sworn officers could make in stopping the flow of people across the border when 500 federal agents in his county can't do it.

Dever acknowledged he has another reason for wanting such legislation. He's a defendant in a federal court claim filed this year by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and believes authority to deal with immigrants might help defend or avoid future suits.

There should be a separate state immigration police who can call upon local assistance but who could go anywhere. If they need help then they could call in officers from the state and municipal police.

There should also be a local police department immigrant ombudsman with familiarity with the witness visa. That way the illegal immigrants could call to report crime without worrying of their report of crime leading to their own deportation.