Jun 28, 2010 6:30 pm US/Pacific
Rio Vista PD Caught Up In Immigration Debate
Department Says Feds Treating Illegal Immigrants Differently In Wake Of Ariz. Law

David Begnaud RIO VISTA, Calif.




The Rio Vista Police Department has been thrown in the middle of the raging debate on illegal immigration enforcement after an illegal immigrant was deported as a result of a routine traffic stop.

Local immigration attorney Hector Cavazos called the arrest and deportation of 21-year-old Jose Reyes as "Arizona comes to Rio Vista," and even the Rio Vista police chief said he was surprised federal authorities acted on the case.

Reyes was the passenger in a car pulled over for running a stop sign in Rio Vista, and the driver of the car was arrested after admitting he was in the country illegally and didn't have a driver's license.

Cavazos said local police had no authority to ask Jose Reyes his immigration status, since he was just a passenger. California penal code 834b allows police to arrest illegal immigrants, but it was preempted by a federal court.

"It's an invalid law," Cavazos said.

Reyes' family cried foul after he was arrested and deported, but Rio Vista Police Chief William Bowen said his officers didn't ask about his status, they asked if he had a driver's license.

Officers were asking if Reyes could drive the vehicle away from the scene, Bowen said, "so we don't have to tow it."

Cavazos said when Reyes told them why he didn't have a license, police should have let him go. Instead, officers called the Immigration and Custom Enforcement Agency (ICE).

ICE asked police to place Reyes under arrest, Bowen said.

"I was quite surprised when they put the detainer on him," he added.

In the past, ICE has acted quite differently, Bowen said. A Rio Vista officer pulled over a van with nine illegal immigrants inside last October, but when the officer followed procedure and contacted ICE, the federal agency told them to arrest the driver and turn the rest loose.

There is no doubt the controversy of Arizona's new immigration law has forced ICE to step up its game, Bowen said.

"You've got half the people in this country saying, 'They should be here with no problem,' you've got half the other people saying, 'They should be deported,'" Bowen said. "Unfortunately it places law enforcement in between these two groups, just trying to do the best we can."



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