Thread: Carpentersville - A federal immigration law in local hands

http://www.dailyherald.com/search/searc ... ?id=261783

A federal immigration law in local hands
BY TARA MALONE
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Immigration may be a federal duty, but enforcing laws that determine who comes into this country is not a charge shouldered by them alone.

Local beat cops - some of them, at least - may arrest and detain immigrants living here illegally.

A little-known federal statute enacted 10 years ago adds this legal weapon to many local arsenals nationwide, and police chiefs and village leaders across the suburbs slowly are taking note of both its potential and its pitfalls.

Carpentersville leaders requested federal money to train, equip and deputize two to four local officers in immigration enforcement earlier this month.

Police departments from Elgin to Waukegan also have considered partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials through the program. In the end, both nixed the idea.

"We looked at it very closely. We talked with them," said Waukegan Police Chief William Biang. "But it really wasn't what we were looking for in our community."

Algonquin Police Chief Russell Laine echoed that view.

"It's a very good program," he said, "but those are not issues we feel we need to get involved with at this time."

More than two dozen law enforcement agencies nationwide now seek training from federal immigration officials. A handful of Massachusetts state troopers will be drilled in immigration enforcement, according to a deal inked last week.

Theirs is the latest addition to a program that started in traditional entry points like Florida and Arizona, two of the six states most heavily trafficked by undocumented workers, federal statistics show. The program soon broadened to places like Mecklenburg County, N.C., where 12.4 percent of 288.4 million residents are foreign.

There, 1,009 immigrants arrested for crimes ranging from shoplifting to assault were referred for deportation during the program's inaugural eight months. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Department's officials field two to five calls weekly about the initiative.

"It's an extremely important tool that lets us know, No. 1, who is in our jail, but more importantly, who is in our country," sheriff spokeswoman Julia Rush said.

To date, none of the nine agencies and 180 local officers trained in immigration enforcement are in Illinois.

Local activists championing stricter enforcement aim to change that.

"This isn't a pipe dream," said Rosanna Pulido of the Illinois Minuteman Project. "This is something that is working where there's a willingness."

Yet the idea of stricter local enforcement sparked a rash of concern and an effort to boycott all businesses in one suburb.

Hoping to transform economic might into political sway, a Carpentersville community group launched an effort against village businesses with hopes of stopping police from acting as local immigration officials. That a federal response to the village's request has not yet arrived does not dampen concerns.

"People are afraid," said Kristin Kumpf, a suburban organizer with the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "The last thing we need is a woman who's a victim of domestic violence being afraid to call the police because she's heard about this."

Kumpf fears the enhanced legal latitude could splinter an often tenuous link between police departments and immigrant communities - in Carpentersville and elsewhere.

Legal or not, many immigrants may hesitate to report a crime or call for help if their ability to live and work in this country comes under fire, Chicago immigration attorney Carlina Tapia-Ruano said.

Many also see the enhanced enforcement as a conflict with one of local police's fundamental responsibilities - to serve and protect the community.

"If local law enforcement becomes surrogate immigration agents, they will not be able to meet that responsibility," said Tapia-Ruano, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

To be clear, local police routinely work with federal immigration officials. In Elgin, the partnership dates to 1989.

When gang members, sex offenders or convicted felons living here illegally are arrested and charged, police officers relay the information to immigration officials.

Federal agents pursue the immigration case, and local officers pursue the criminal case, Waukegan's Chief William Biang said. Similar divisions of duty occur in police departments across the suburbs.

The 287(g) program - named for a section in the Immigration and Nationality Act - shifts the line slightly.

Local officers who undergo five weeks of training may identify, process and detain immigrants living and working here illegally whom they encounter during their day-to-day work.

Whether such authority is needed varies by community, said Ann Yom, with the National Sheriff's Association.

Florida seized on the program in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Six years after the program was created, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement became the first to enact it. Their target? Illegal immigrants suspected of terrorist ties.

Those found near the state's three nuclear power plants, airports or water treatment plants aroused suspicion. Those traveling to seasonal farm jobs did not, said Mark Zadra, the agent who heads domestic security and intelligence. The distinction was a deliberate one.

"We knew we did not want to jeopardize those here illegally working for a legitimate purpose, not to create a terrorist issue," Zadra said.

Carpentersville police officers offered similar assurances.

"We will not have officers out there conducting residential sweeps or business sweeps," police Cmdr. Michael Kilbourne said. "We are really looking at it as an issue of enforcing the law."

• Daily Herald staff writers Larissa Chinwah and Rob Phillips contributed to this report.

Originally Posted by Dixie

"We knew we did not want to jeopardize those here illegally working for a legitimate purpose, not to create a terrorist issue," Zadra said.

How are any of them working for a legitimate purpose, when by their very actions they are criminals to begin with? What are foreign invaders but terrorists? It is no wonder with a mind set as such that America is becoming a third world country.

if police can pick and choose the laws they want to enforce, isn't that racist against USA citizens?