http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 99556.html


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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Houston & Texas

June 24, 2006, 10:40PM



Customs official touts cooperation with HPD
Immigration matters are much improved, he says, countering earlier comments by aide
By MATT STILES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

The region's top immigration enforcement official sought Saturday to clarify comments a spokeswoman made about Houston police, saying he's perfectly comfortable with the cooperation his agency gets from the department.

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Bob Rutt, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston, said Luisa Deason relied on "dated information" when she said Friday that she "strongly" believed the agency and the department could have a better relationship.

In fact, Rutt said, the cooperation between the two has improved in the last year, as the immigration debate has flared in Houston and across the country.

"We have a very good working relationship with the Houston Police Department on immigration matters and all matters enforced my ICE," Rutt said.

The comments by Deason, the agency's local spokeswoman, came during an interview with the Chronicle about a local group's new effort to change the Police Department's policy on immigration.

The Police Department prohibits officers from asking the immigration status of people they encounter, unless those individuals are arrested on serious misdemeanors or felonies.

And officers aren't supposed to arrest solely on suspicion that they are in the country illegally.

The local group, Protect Our Citizens, wants officers to get more involved with immigration enforcement, and is trying to get 20,000 signatures by Sept. 1 to put a policy change on the November ballot.


Unwritten 'sanctuary policy'
Deason told the Chronicle that the department doesn't allow ICE officials in the city jail and doesn't notify the agency when officers encounter people wanted for immigration violations.

She also suggested that the department has an unwritten "sanctuary policy," a phrase used by Protect Our Citizens and other anti-illegal immigration activists that police commanders and Mayor Bill White dispute.

Rutt said the department does, in fact, notify the agency when it arrests people wanted by ICE. He said officers also call his agency when they suspect violent criminals might be in the country illegally.


Notifying ICE
The department doesn't get involved in "administrative operations," such as immigration enforcement at workplaces. But it does help the agency conduct operations for criminal cases, such as when suspects are violent felons or human traffickers. The department also notifies ICE when it comes across a "drop house," where large groups of illegal immigrants are sometimes housed as they pay off smugglers or travel through the area.

"Houston is not a sanctuary city, by the definition," he said. "They do cooperate with us."

He said Houston's officers cannot serve as de facto immigration agents. Local police don't have the specialized training to determine "alienage" or arrest violators.

Even if they did, ICE couldn't process and house them all.

The agency, which lacks detention space, focuses its efforts on dealing with illegal immigrants who are a threat to national security or public safety, Rutt said.


Understanding roles
HPD Assistant Chief Dan Perales, who heads the department's special investigations command, but also serves as liaison with ICE, said both agencies met last summer to clarify their relationship.

Since then, he said, the department has tried to ensure that officers are certain about their roles, and that the public also understands.

"The main issue is that people of different cultures have to understand the reasons for our current policies, and we want them to feel comfortable here," he said.

Like other police officials, he said the department shouldn't get too involved with immigration because it doesn't have the training or resource — and because it fears alienating immigrant communities, putting them at risk.

Rutt agrees.

"I share the concern," he said. "If illegal immigrants can't come to the police to report crime, they will become more victimized."

matt.stiles@chron.com


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