Thread: City's Immigration Plan Stretches to Nation's Border

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/ ... cetalk.txt

City's Immigration Plan Stretches to Nation's Border
This article was published on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:24 PM CST in News
By Lori Harrison-Stone
The Morning News
ROGERS -- A meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials this week and a military trip to the Mexican border next week have Mayor Steve Womack thinking his local immigration efforts won't be futile.

Womack said Wednesday the meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at the agency's Fort Smith office was a "direct response" to his letter asking the city be allowed to participate in 287(g) program of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

The program allows state and local law enforcement officers to be trained and certified to act as immigration officers; but, if approved to participate, Rogers is likely to be the first city government to participate in the program.

Few cities have the resources needed for the program, Womack said, adding Rogers' financial situation is very good. He believes the city is ready to commit the dollars now for the additional personnel, the federal agency's special identification system and any other costs.

Police Chief Steve Helms said Wednesday the federal identification system is similar to the Automated Fingerprint Identification System his department uses now, but it links to federal databases local law enforcement can't use. The system is set up so fingerprints are electronically scanned in and matched with proper identification information, including any official photograph that may have been taken.

"It's very impressive," Helms said, adding the digital system provides the needed information almost instantly. It also allows hard copies of fingerprints to be scanned in, which the Automated Fingerprint Identification System doesn't allow, and would likely be very useful, Helms said.

At Monday's meeting, Womack, Helms and City Attorney Ben Lipscomb explained the city's objectives for participating in the program and assured the three attending Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that there is no plan to act as a "vigilante force" out to hunt down illegal immigrants, Womack said.

The six officers the city hopes to get trained and certified through the program would be called in to investigate and process illegal immigrants if, "during the course of normal police work," it's apparent that someone who is involved in an accident, traffic stop or other police contact, doesn't have proper paperwork, he said.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are expected to prepare a report of information gathered from the city for Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, who will decide whether Rogers can participate in the program.

But Womack isn't sitting back and waiting. He's busy with some military duty that may tie in with his municipal position and stance on immigration.

As commander of the 233rd Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard, Womack heads up what he called "the largest infantry schoolhouse outside of Georgia," the home base for the Army's infantry division.

His unit is gearing up to train National Guard troops to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in its efforts to secure the border. Womack will travel to Las Cruces, N.M., next week with two of his National Guard officers to see how the Border Patrol operates. The trip is a military trip planned for some time and won't cost Rogers anything, Womack said, but noted he sees a connection in his dual rolls.

"I've been told that the border mission is effective," he said. "It tells me that, if you're illegal in this country, you don't want to be sent back because you may not be able to cross (the border) next time."

If Rogers is able to participate in the federal immigration program, Womack said it will send a message to illegal immigrants the city is a risky place to be if they don't want to be deported. If the city does what it can to stop illegal immigration, he said, eventually Hispanics in the community will be more welcome because they won't be constantly suspected as illegal immigrants.

"The absence of that type of program has caused hardship on people who are here legally and living the American dream," he added.

Temple Black, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents involved in Monday's meeting weren't available to speak on the issue Wednesday. He also said the agency couldn't provide details of the city's likelihood of participating in the program until a decision is made.

In a news release issued Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about its work with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina, Homeland Security's Julie Myers touted the success of the federal 287(g) program. Local and federal officials there have identified and charged nearly 1,000 "criminal aliens" and have already deported 128 of them since the 287(g) program was activated there in April, according to the release.

"The ultimate goal of partnership is to improve public safety and homeland security, and the efforts here in Mecklenburg County are an example of how effective we can be when we work together," Myers said. "Our message to those individuals who think they can break our immigration laws and prey upon our communities is simple: You are mistaken. Together, we will find you and deport you."

AT A GLANCE

What Is Just Communities?

Just Communities of Northwest Arkansas has been around about 10 years. Until recently, it was part of the National Conference for Community and Justice, which changed its name in the 1990s from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

According to a Web site for the National Conference for Community and Justice, the name change in the mid-1990s was to better reflect the group's mission "to build whole and inclusive communities."

"The historic name confused many, who believed that NCCJ was an interfaith organization. Therefore, the new name is not a change in vision, but rather an affirmation of our abiding commitment to embrace the diversity of our nation," the Web site states.

Just Communities of Northwest Arkansas just this fall ended its affiliation with the National Conference for Community and Justice and joined the national network of Just Communities.

Source: Staff Report

THE ISSUE

Immigration Dialogue

The threat of bad weather has delayed plans by Just Communities of Northwest Arkansas to hold the first of what the group is calling Dialogue for Solutions meetings in response to proposed local immigration action. The group plans to offer the city of Rogers some alternative solutions to the immigration issue.

The first meeting is expected to be held next Thursday, but is open to only 35 invited "local leaders," said Ana Hart, a member of the local organization's board.

Names of the participants won't be released until the meetings are over and a report to the city is prepared. When that report is released in January, a contact list will be available for those participants who don't object to their name being released, she said.

"I think that dialogue is going to take us far beyond our own imagination," Hart said.

She described participants in the Dialogue for Solutions meetings as local Anglo, Hispanic and African American leaders and representatives of the following:

* University of Arkansas and NorthWest Arkansas Community College

* Rogers and Springdale police departments

* Rogers and Springdale school districts

* City of Rogers

* Local corporations, banks and hospitals

* Nonprofit organizations

* The Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce

* The League of United Latin American Citizens

Source: Staff Report

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Born and Raised in Rogers wrote on November 29, 2006 10:37 PM:
"Great job Mr. Mayor. You are a credit to our community. "

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/ ... rmayor.txt

Mayor Enlightened by Border Trip

By Lori Harrison-Stone
The Morning News
ROGERS -- Rogers police officers may soon get more than immigration training -- they may get a chance to see how immigration enforcement works at the border.

Mayor Steve Womack, who had just returned from a military trip to New Mexico's southern border, wants to see city police officers get the training he's requested through the federal program that certifies them to act as federal immigration agents. But, Womack said Friday, he'd also like them to get a chance to see what he did this week.

A proposal for Rogers to possibly become the first city to participate in the federal program, which is part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, is pending before Julie Myers, head of U.S. Homeland Security. Roland Jones, assistant special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's regional office in New Orleans, helped prepare the report. He was not in his office Friday and didn't return messages immediately.

Rogers Police Chief Steve Helms said he's curious himself about the immigration operations on the border. He would support a planned trip by Rogers officers to the border, if the program is approved for the city. The remoteness and hazards of the desert area coupled with the determination of the immigrants would be "an eye-opening experience," Helms said.

That's the way Womack described his two-day trip when he returned this week.

What impressed him was the impact of the military border program. The U.S. Border Patrol and National Guard troops manning the east side of the New Mexico border apprehended some 1,700 illegal immigrants in the past five months, Womack said. That's down some 43 percent from the same five-month period a year ago, he noted.

As commander of the 233rd Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard, Womack made the trip to gather information for pending training programs his unit will offer other troops slated for the border duty.

"There is no question in my mind that our timing is right," Womack said of his proposal the city participate in the immigration enforcement program.

"We'd love to have the opportunity to demonstrate what a municipal government can do with this program."

Immigration enforcement training and authority in Rogers, coupled with increased border enforcement, would mean illegal immigrants will find it hard to return to the United States and aren't as likely to want to be in Rogers, he said.

"There's a strong possibility they won't want to be here at all," Womack said. "I bet they'll be the best behaved illegal immigrants if they stay."

Womack said he arrived in New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon and went straight to the field. He visited two different tiers of border enforcement -- one at the border and others along major roadways that include roadblocks with other troops stationed a distance away to watch for off-loading of passengers intending to go around the checkpoints on foot.

Womack also visited enforcement sites even deeper in the New Mexico desert, called "Early Identification Team" sites. Personnel at those sites use thermal imagery technology to sense body heat. Arkansas National Guard troops use the technology, called a Target Acquisition System, in military operations, but are finding it also highly beneficial for the border duty, he said.

He was particularly pleased to see the hard work Arkansas troops are doing at the border and noted state soldiers have been involved in two emergency life-saving incidents since they were deployed that didn't have anything do with the border duty. They helped in rescue operations in a bad flood and used their combat life-safety skills to assist a female Border Patrol agent severely injured in an accident.

Calling them "seasoned professional soldiers," Womack said the Arkansas troops serving at the border are working with New Mexico National Guard troops to make a difference in border security.

At A Glance

DESTINATION ARKANSAS

When Rogers Mayor Steve Womack visited U.S. Border Patrol operations in New Mexico this week, he was not too surprised to learn that Arkansas, particularly Northwest Arkansas, is among several top destinations revealed by immigrants caught trying to get into the United States.

U.S. Border Patrol agents informed Womack they believe there are recruiters in Mexico who are promoting specific areas of the country as places to find work.

Other top state destinations for illegal immigrants -- North Carolina, Iowa and Nebraska.