Thread: CA: Palo Alto to ICE: Don't trample immigrants' rights

Palo Alto to ICE: Don't trample immigrants' rights
By Will Oremus


Daily News Staff Writer

Article Launched: 10/22/2008 11:07:27 AM PDT


Responding to reports of local immigration raids, Palo Alto has passed a resolution asking federal agents to respect its residents' constitutional rights.

The city on Monday voted to ask its congressional representatives to oppose "any use of improper and unlawful law enforcement tactics by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their zealous enforcement" of immigration laws. In particular, the resolution decries ICE agents' alleged practice of identifying themselves as local police officers and searching people's homes and arresting them without warrants.

The resolution stops short of openly challenging U.S. border policy, however. It says the city supports the federal government's effort to secure the country's borders "from violent and illegal criminal aliens, gang members and fugitives."

The measure passed on a 6-2-1 vote, with Mayor Larry Klein and Council Member John Barton opposing it and Council Member Pat Burt abstaining.

The Palo Alto Police Department already has a policy of not participating in ICE sweeps, and its officers don't arrest people just for being in the country illegally, Agent Dan Ryan said. So far, the department is only aware of one federal raid in the city, a 2007 incident in which an undocumented couple was deported, uprooting four children who were all U.S. citizens.

Several local church leaders on Monday cited that incident and others on the Peninsula in urging the city to pass the resolution. They said ICE operations have violated people's human rights and instilled in immigrants a misplaced fear of local police.

Klein said he opposed the motion because he believes the city shouldn't take stands on non-local issues. Beyond that, he said the resolution appeared "meaningless" as written.

"As I read it, all it was doing was telling ICE to follow the Constitution and the laws of the country," Klein said — something they're already required to do.

Council Member Peter Drekmeier disagreed, saying, "We've seen under the Bush administration that they pick and choose the laws they want to follow. Essentially what we're doing is sending a message to our elected representatives in Congress that this is an issue they need to look into and take action on."

Neil Babra, an immigration attorney with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, applauded the council's stand. He said even illegal immigrants have constitutional rights to privacy and due process, but those are often trampled by ICE agents who rely on "fear and coercion" rather than warrants to apprehend suspects.

By taking a position, Babra said, Palo Alto is demonstrating "that the larger community is noticing and sees it as a problem of general human rights, and not just a problem for undocumented people."

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10783095?source=rss

Isn't Palo Alto home to some of the most sensitive high-tech research in this country?

I think that Palo Alto is credited with being the birthplace of the Silicon Valley. Perhaps some of the most expensive real estate in the Silicon Valley, and well landscaped.

Thanks, roundabout. I get it. With a multimillion dollar mansion you certainly can't have your lawn go unmowed, or be seen by neighbors planting your own garden or pruning the rosebushes.