http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/85171
March 4, 2007
Arizona joins other states in illegals measure
Gary Grado, Tribune
In Mecklenburg County, N.C., sheriff’s deputies have found almost 1,700 illegal immigrants in their jail system in the last year. In Alabama, state troopers arrested 218 illegal immigrants during routine traffic stops and at driver’s license offices between September 2003 and December.

Those are the results so far from two of the nation’s eight police agencies in which local officers have the training and authority to enforce federal immigration law.

The number of those officers nationwide will almost double after the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, trains 160 Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies and detention officers.

Training began Tuesday for some county officers, who are expected to graduate in four weeks. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, like authorities in North Carolina and Alabama, described the new authority as simply an extra tool for law enforcement.

“Everybody will be watching what we do with this new authority,” Arpaio said. “We may make a mistake, but we’ll correct it. We’ll work with ICE.”

Immigration enforcement has traditionally been the jurisdiction of the federal government, but the influx of illegal immigrants and the attendant social and crime problems have created an outcry for local police to get involved.

Local police have typically resisted, saying that immigration is a federal jurisdiction with complex laws. Many say local officers enforcing immigration laws would create a chilling effect in immigrant communities that would keep witnesses and victims from coming forward out of fear of deportation, according to written guidelines of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

A 1996 law gave local police immigration enforcement authority so long as they get training from the federal government.

According to the contract between Maricopa County and ICE, the training will include immigration law, the scope of immigration officer authority, Civil Rights laws, racial profiling and cross-cultural issues.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement became the first state agency to get the training in August 2002.

PIONEERS IN ALABAMA
The Alabama Department of Public Safety was the second agency in the nation to receive the training and has put 60 officers through it since 2003, said department spokeswoman Martha Earnhardt.

DPS oversees driver’s licensing in Alabama besides patrolling highways.

The first person arrested under the program was a woman from Thailand who tried to present false documents at a driver’s license office, Earnhardt said.

Troopers with the training must check the immigration status of all drivers they pull over for traffic violations, Earnhardt said.

The stops are based on probable cause, not on racial profiling, she said.

“We’ve gotten no allegations or complaints of abuse,” she said.

When the department announced it was beginning the program, authorities conducted an outreach campaign that included public service announcements and meeting with Mexican authorities, local social service agencies and activist groups.

One of them was the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, which is affiliated with the National Council of La Raza and led by Isabelle Rubio.

Although Rubio doesn’t inquire about someone’s immigration status, she said 85 percent of the people her agency helps are from Mexico and the rest from the various South American countries.

Alabama’s booming construction industry, service industry and landscaping seems to be the largest draw for Hispanic workers, she said.

Rubio said she hasn’t received any complaints from her clients about DPS troopers.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to do this,” she said.

NORTH CAROLINA CRITICS
Critics of Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph’s decision to implement the training for 12 deputies said he would be breaking up families of illegal immigrants by digging up the immigration status of people who are jailed.

“He told them up front: If you don’t want to encounter the (immigration) system, don’t commit a crime,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Julia Rush.

More than half of the illegal immigrants identified from May 6 through Feb. 14 were jailed on traffic violations, drunken driving and assault charges, according to Mecklenburg County statistics.

Only deputies in the jail are trained, and they check the immigration status of everyone who was born outside the United States, Rush said.

If they discover an immigration violation, they begin the removal proceedings, but the state charges have to be resolved first, Earnhardt said.

“We feel like our program has been very successful,” she said.

Alonzo Pena, special agent in Charge of the Phoenix ICE office, said the main focus of the federally trained deputies under the contract will be to participate in Community Action Teams, which help other local police agencies in hotspot crime areas.

Arpaio said, however, that trained deputies will be making immigration checks on people they come across in the normal course of their duties.

“You’re going to be pulled over if you’re committing a violation,” Arpaio said.

Special powers
The local agreement with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will allow Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies and detention officers to do the following:

• Interrogate and arrest suspected illegal immigrants and process immigration violations for those convicted of state or federal offenses.

• Administer oaths and gather evidence to complete processing on imprisoned illegal immigrants so they are removed from the country and not released to the community.

• Prepare charging documents, issue detainers and transport arrested illegal immigrants to ICE detention facilities.
SOURCE: Memorandum of Agreement