Chandler police chief wants department's immigration policy rewritten

Edythe Jensen -
Feb. 11, 2010 02:16 PM
The Arizona Republic .

Chandler Police Chief Sherry Kiyler wants to rewrite the department's immigration policy so officers can question all misdemeanor and felony criminal suspects about their status, not just the most serious offenders.

If that happens, Chandler's practices will be nearly identical to Mesa's and similar to Phoenix'. Currently Chandler officers are not allowed to ask the immigration status of misdemeanor suspects unless they are accused of theft or assault.

In most cities, police chiefs set and change their own department policies. But because a former city council voted on a restrictive immigration enforcement policy as part of a civil rights lawsuit settlement 11 years ago, Kiyler's changes can't take effect until the current council votes to scrap the old rules.

She made her proposal during a City Council Public Safety Subcommittee meeting Thursday and is expected to take it to the council for a vote in coming weeks. Mayor Boyd Dunn, who was not at the meeting, said he encouraged Kiyler to change the police immigration policy because the existing one is confusing and outdated.

The chief said she does not believe local law enforcement agencies have authority to detain individuals for federal immigration violations alone. However, her new policy allows officers to submit "Request for Inquiry" forms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they learn someone is not in the country legally but they are not the subject of a criminal investigation.

The 1999 immigration policy took effect after Chandler drew widespread criticism for a five-day roundup of suspected illegal immigrants. For four days in late July, 1997, Police and federal agents set out to arrest undocumented immigrants in downtown neighborhoods, and they nabbed 340. But some of those taken into custody were legal residents, and Hispanic community leaders were outraged. The city got sued and paid more than a $500,000 in out-of-court settlements.

Genardo Castro, a citizen of Mexico but a documented U.S. resident, was one of the plaintiffs in the case which led to the 1999 immigration policy. Castro was taking out his garbage in a south Chandler neighborhood when a Chandler officer asked him for his papers, with no probable cause beyond his appearance, his attorney said at the time.

Under Kiyler's proposed policy, that wouldn't happen. However, the chief said officers would be free to question any criminal suspect about their immigration status and may forward unsolicited immigration information to ICE. The decision whether to submit that unsolicited information would be left to the officer.

Under both the old and new policies officers do not ask the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses, civil traffic violators, or juveniles unless they are charged with violent crimes.

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