Thread: Law officers shun immigration role

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_15287198

Law officers shun immigration role
By Chris Roberts \ El Paso Times
Posted: 06/13/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- Enforcing federal immigration laws is not a job for local law enforcement, according to top-ranking officials who spoke Saturday on border policing.

City and county law enforcement officials from the region answered questions for about two hours during a panel discussion at the Plaza Theatre.

El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles received the loudest applause for his closing remarks at the session, which was organized by the Border Network for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.

"I get really disgusted when I hear the national debate on immigration," Wiles said to about 140 people, many listening to Spanish translations on headphones. "They make these outrageous plans without understanding our community."

When politicians speak of closing the border and rounding up undocumented immigrants, Wiles said, they generally are trying to get re-elected.

"We have a very diverse community, and we're proud of that," he said, and he noted that there are many types of immigration status. "This community is made up of decent law-abiding people who care about each other."

One woman in the audience yelled to Wiles, "Do you want to work in New Mexico?"

"I think, in part, they're kind of pandering to a community here," Sarah VanBuren, a Washington D.C. resident temporarily working in El Paso, said after the meeting. "It would be interesting to see what they said if they went somewhere else."

Nonetheless, VanBuren said she appreciated
Wiles' remarks. "So far, I think El Paso is a great city and I feel very comfortable here," she said.

Most of the responses received favorable reactions. However, Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison's answer to a question about the Arizona law requiring officers to verify immigration status was met with awkward silence.

Asked whether he thought the law was a good idea, Garrison said, "What they put into law is similar to what we do already. If they put it into law (in New Mexico), we'd have to enforce it."

Pressed for a yes or no, Garrison said, "I'm not looking for it to be put into place here."

The others said they did not think the law, as they understood it, was a good idea. Also on the panel were former Las Cruces police Chief Peter Bradley, current Las Cruces police Chief Richard Williams and Anthony police Chief Ed Miranda.

Police and sheriff's deputies must ask for identification, the officials said. But when a person provides a valid driver's license, registration and proof of insurance after being stopped for a minor offense such as a traffic violation, the officer should write a ticket and move on, they agreed.

If a person cannot provide valid identification, they said, immigration status ultimately could become an issue. In particular, they said, criminals -- regardless of their status -- will be pursued and arrested. And if a person is suspected of having a warrant against them, asking about their birthplace is one way of making a positive identification, Wiles said.

In the long term, there must be immigration reform, Williams said. Immigration issues complicate the job of making communities safe, he said.

"Can we simplify the (immigration) process so people can be here legally," he asked, "and we do not have people who are afraid of the police?"

"Can we simplify the (immigration) process so people can be here legally," he asked, "and we do not have people who are afraid of the police?"

How about the American growing marijuana illegally, should they be afraid of police? Or do police quoted in this articles just want to pal up with illegal aliens to get a cut of their cozy illegal drug and smuggling dollars?

There should actually be a seperate state level police force charged with immigratrion enforcement with primary responsibility which can call on county and municipal law enforcement as necessary.

http://www.myvalleynews.com/story/11815

Displeased with the Federal government’s efforts toward curbing illegal immigration, several local metro police agencies have begun to make arrests for federal immigration violations, while other cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco, have declared sanctuary zones where federal immigration laws will not be enforced by local police departments.

Haynes feels that this will not be effective. "What every other state and local agency has done has tossed immigration enforcement on top of the myriad of other things police officers do, sort of as an afterthought. The idea behind the California Border Police begins with two basic premises — number one, the federal government should do this job but they’re not, and number two, California bears a disproportionate share of the cost of illegal immigration."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California ... Initiative

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib ... intrb.html

"When politicians speak of closing the border and rounding up undocumented immigrants, Wiles said, they generally are trying to get re-elected. "

Ah yes, you do work for US! He thinks it is a cheap shot for getting re-elected? I say it is doing the will of the people for once. Sheesh!

Is this El Paso Sheriff elected or appointed?

Here in GA, we elect our Sheriffs and they would never speak out like this in support of criminal behavior.

If they are elected, then El Paso County has a lot of work to do.

Richard Wiles who is currently the Sheriff in El Paso County (which is an elected position) was in 2004 the Chief of Police in El Paso.



“Securing the Borders and America's Points of Entry, What Remains to Be Doneâ€

http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/he ... fm?id=3859

OOPS....here's the link to my previous post

GaPatriot, you must remember that these people are targets. There is a huge population and the corruption of Mexico has infiltrated this nation in many ways. Just like water, the border cannot contain it.

This man wishes to portray that politicians are taking a cheap shot for re-election if they call for border security - isn't the government employee, sheriff or politician taking a cheap shot for job security when they disobey the lawful will of the people as written into their founding documents in exchange for the will of an alien population?

EDIT: Now I have read the most recent post from the testimony in D.C. and this Wiles man does explain it well. Like I said, they are targets. We can risk our lives defending the border of N Korea or Afghanistan but we can't do it for ourselves? The federal government needs to do what they were elected to do and we ourselves take priority over some people on some other part of the planet. We know that - why don't they? Do they wish to force us into lawlessness? Into new old wildwest ways?