BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN RHETORIC
Candidates vie to sound toughest on immigration

By Brandon Ortiz
BORTIZ@HERALD-LEADER.COM

http://www.kentucky.com



Nearly every politician has clamored to sound toughest on illegal immigration in the waning weeks of the campaign.

Candidates for governor and attorney general have called for checking the immigration status of inmates in jails and prisons. They've talked about cracking down on employers. Some have said police should start enforcing federal immigration law. Adding to the debate is a commission's report on immigration that will be delivered to Lexington's mayor Tuesday.

But the candidates have been silent on how they would pay for such proposals. And they haven't told voters that jails and prisons already work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport illegal immigrants who've committed crimes.

Many in law enforcement, including the Lexington police, say it's not their job to enforce federal immigration law. And jailers say they don't have the beds or the money to handle a crackdown.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher and attorney general candidate Stan Lee, both Republicans, have embraced a federal training provision, called section 287(g), under the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act.

Section 287(g) allows state and local governments to enter into agreements with ICE to enforce immigration laws under the supervision of immigration officers. Normally, only the federal government can enforce immigration law.

But there are limits to 287(g). It does not allow police to conduct their own investigations or enforcement raids. And the federal government only pays for training; it does not reimburse for costs related to enforcement. Law enforcement personnel must take a four- to five-week course to be deputized.

The training would allow officers to detain illegal immigrants they happen to encounter during the course of their duties. However, police can already arrest illegal immigrants, and regularly do, if they commit a crime.

Advocates for illegal immigrants see the call for 287(g) training as nothing more than an election-year stunt.

Section 287(g) "is often lauded as this perfect solution to our immigration situation," said Cori Hash, a lawyer for the Immigrant Rights Project at the Maxwell Street Legal Clinic. "It provides four to five weeks of training, and then officers are expected to know everything there is to know about illegal immigration. That is a lot to ask somebody."

Jockeying for position

The hot-button issue has gotten renewed attention since Fletcher announced in September that the state is seeking to enter an agreement with ICE so corrections officers can check the immigration status of foreign-born inmates and parolees.

Last week, a Lexington mayoral commission on immigration voted to recommend against having police enter into an arrangement with ICE to enforce immigration law. The recommendations were quickly criticized by Fletcher and Lee.

Not to be outdone, Democrats Steve Beshear and Jack Conway, running for governor and attorney general, have offered qualified support for 287(g). But they've emphasized the need for financial assistance from the federal government. Such help is not guaranteed, and Kentucky would have to wait in line with every other state.

"Beshear believes the only way the states can enforce the federal immigration laws is if the federal government gives our over-stretched law enforcement the money and the training to do it," spokeswoman Vicki Glass said.

Beshear and Conway have supported Fletcher's plan to check the legal status of Kentucky's 460 foreign-born inmates and parolees. But they questioned the governor's timing of the announcement, just weeks before Election Day.

Conway is against rewarding illegal behavior, campaign manager Mark Riddle said. But Conway says immigration is a federal responsibility and Congress must address it.

"If our local and state officers are going to enforce federal immigration laws, then there needs to be a corresponding commitment from the federal government to fund this effort," Riddle said.

Conway, in an interview, noted that some in law enforcement are worried about being accused of racial profiling. He thinks the state should crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The toughest stance has been taken by Lee, a state representative from Lexington. He wants the General Assembly to pass a law requiring Kentucky State Police to enter into an agreement with ICE to enforce immigration law. Lee says ICE is too understaffed.

"We've done nothing now for 20 years," Lee said. "We have to do something."

Fletcher and Lee say they encourage local police to get the training as well.

No room in the jails?

Expanding 287(g) training to state and local police would require an infusion of cash and a major expansion of already overcrowded county jails, said Bobby Waits, president of the Kentucky Jailers Association.

Kentucky's 81 jails reported to the state Department of Corrections last week that they are housing 19,114 inmates. The statewide jail capacity is 17,810, meaning the system was over capacity.

The Pew Hispanic Research Center estimates Kentucky's illegal population at 30,000 to 60,000.

Waits estimates that on most nights there are 800 empty jail beds in the state. "Where are we going to put them?" said Waits, the Shelby County jailer

Lee brushed off concerns about the potential lack of jail beds. "I suspect we'll find ways to house them," Lee said. "You can always find excuses not to do something."

Lee said he's not calling for mass deportations. Increased enforcement will cause many illegal immigrants to leave the state on their own, he said.

Lee has claimed that 287(g) will pay for the cost of jailing illegal immigrants.

Actually, the federal government bears that burden only when a convict has completed the sentence for another crime or those charges are dismissed, said Tim Counts, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE has 48 hours to take custody. Waits says ICE agents have gotten better about picking up illegal immigrants. In the past they could take up to two weeks.

Waits says he has repeatedly inquired about getting reimbursement from the federal government, but officials have never responded.

One senator's solution

Fletcher is supporting a bill state Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, is drafting that would create a task force in the Department of Corrections to put detainers on illegal immigrants in county jails. The legislation would create a centralized system through the Administrative Office of the Courts to screen all inmates.

"We are not going to allow Kentucky to be a safe haven for illegal aliens," Fletcher said in a statement.

Stivers says his bill would avoid jail overcrowding. He says it would allow jailers to petition the state to take custody of illegal immigrants if the jail is at capacity.

Stivers said the task force would begin with seven or eight officers.

Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson says that's better than nothing, but it is still inadequate. Larson, who's on the Lexington immigration commission, has recommended that officers at the Fayette County Detention Center or sheriff's office get 287(g) training and check the legal status of inmates.

Larson says ICE is so understaffed that immigrants who commit crimes are routinely released.

"There is not a whole lot we can do about the presence of illegal aliens, but we can expect them to obey the law," Larson said. "If they choose not to obey the law, then they have to suffer the consequences."

Hash, with the Immigrant Rights Project, says 287(g) training is not needed at the state or local level. Jails already have the authority to call ICE if they suspect an inmate is an illegal immigrant, and Hash says, illegal immigrants would not report crimes or cooperate with police investigations out of fear they'd be deported.

"This call for 287(g) is in large part a political ploy," Hash said. "It is part of this immediate reaction that illegal immigration is a threat. If we actually stopped and looked at the way 287(g) works, we'd find that we really don't need it and don't want it."