Thread: Who is tipping ICE off on immigrant motorist arrests?

Alderman: Who is tipping ICE on immigrant motorist arrests?

August 6, 2008Recommend (6)

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com
Hispanic aldermen are demanding to know why 59 Chicago motorists with Latino surnames have been arrested for traffic violations and other misdemeanors recently only to land in jail because somebody tipped Immigration and Customs Enforcement in violation of the city's "sanctuary" ordinance.

"We will not tolerate this in Chicago. ... We want to know where it's coming from and who is filing these reports," said Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th), chairman of the City Council's Human Relations Committee.

At a City Council hearing Tuesday, Ald. Danny Solis (25th) was visibly moved by the testimony of a woman with two young children whose husband has been in jail for over five months.

"It all started because he didn't have a driver's license, which shouldn't have been an arrest to send him to the County Jail" in the first place, Solis said.

In 1985, then Mayor Harold Washington issued an executive order prohibiting city employees from enforcing federal immigration laws. He made the move to protest the federal government's decision to question people seeking city services and conduct random searches of city records in an effort to find undocumented immigrants.

Four years later, Mayor Daley affirmed the executive order. In 2006, the City Council turned the order into law as the immigration debate raged in Congress.

On Tuesday, the City Council's Human Relations Committee held an emotional hearing to find how and why the ordinance is being violated.

The Chicago Police Department has already investigated 30 of the recent cases and absolved police officers of responsibility. Twenty-nine other cases have yet to be investigated by Police Superintendent Jody Weis, who has assured Hispanic aldermen during private meetings that he would suspend or terminate any officer who violates the city's ordinance.

Community activist Jorge Mujica, who spoke for the mother of two, questioned why a mere immigration investigation was enough to keep the accused behind bars with no opportunity to be bonded out.

"If every time an investigation is opened people have to stay in jail, Gov. Blagojevich will be in jail because he's got an open investigation," Mujica said.

He added, "The accusation starts with the Chicago Police officer who makes the arrest. I know the law is the law . . . But I also know that a person who goes to work and pays taxes and doesn't have a driver's license shouldn't be five months in jail. . . . We have to treat people like human beings."

Gail Montenegro, an ICE spokeswoman, said three federal agents are stationed at the Cook County courthouse every weekday "to review the arrest records of subjects booked into custody the previous day." They also review records and law enforcement databases of those defendants scheduled to appear in bond court.

"The previous day's arrest records are made available to ICE by the state's attorney's office," Montenegro said in an email.

"ICE does not racially profile. We are mandated to enforce the nation's immigration laws and we aggressively do so in a fair and humane manner. Anyone residing illegally in the U.S.is subject to deportation and we place a high priority on those illegal aliens who are committing crimes and threatening the public safety."
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