Thread: Ca - Officers: License, not immigration status, checked

Officers: License, not immigration status, checked


By Times Staff
Santa Maria Times
updated 4:46 a.m. CT, Sun., Feb. 8, 2009
Although local law enforcement agencies conducting DUI checkpoints make sure that drivers are licensed, officers said they don't investigate whether unlicensed drivers are illegal immigrants.They leave that matter up to agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and keep the focus at the checkpoints on catching anyone driving under the influence.Turning in an illegal immigrant could even work against the officers' mission, they said.Members of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department don't want serious offenders deported, said Deputy Win Smith, because then they can't pursue prosecution of the case."We're not there to deport anyone," said Lt. Rico Flores of the Santa Maria Police Department.He said that Santa Maria police officers don't deal with the immigration status of unlicensed drivers, and don't call ICE.While every department has its own policy on the matter, sheriff's deputies don't have the authority to enforce federal immigration laws, Smith said.Sometimes agents from ICE will come to the jail and check the inmates, he said, but deputies don't make calls to ICE.Sgt. Danny Rios of the Lompoc Police Department said that while he knows that ICE agents have come to at least two DUI checkpoints in the city, Lompoc police officers don't address the immigration status of unlicensed drivers.If officers think that a suspect is in the county illegally, they will contact ICE, he said.Lori Haley, spokeswoman for ICE, said that ICE agents only go to DUI checkpoints at the invitation of the law enforcement agency involved. Typically, she said, the agents are just on hand in case local law enforcement refers anyone to them.Antonio Rivera Sanchez, community organizer for Santa Barbara's People United for Economic Justice (PUEBLO), said that while the organization supports DUI crackdowns, it opposes confiscating cars of unlicensed drivers for extended periods of time.Rather than paying to retrieve their impounded vehicles, owners often will buy a cheaper, worse car that is bad for the environment, Sanchez said."That's why we are asking to the city to have a public forum to look to solving these issues," he said, speaking of Santa Maria.Flores said that state law requires that anytime a driver is caught without a license or with a suspended license, that vehicle will be impounded for30 days. If the courts lift a suspended license, or an unlicensed driver obtains a license, the vehicle can be released, he said.February 8, 2009

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29081086/

What happems in many cities and counties is that the police officers don't ask immigration status. When the person is arrested that is when they find out and deal with it. In fact many county jails have an ICE person working there for that reason. That is why when you look up booking information you will find an immigration hold on people. It means that they are here illegally or in a few cases the crime they committed will cause them to be deported as in the case of a man with a Greencard from Chile who shot a deputy during a traffic stop.