Thread: CO-Police referring plenty of suspects to federal agency

Police say they're referring plenty of suspects to federal agency
April Washington
Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The driver accused of causing an accident that killed three people last week in Aurora has been arrested 16 times in the metro area on various charges, including speeding and driving without a license. Federal officials said Monday that they believe Francis Hernandez, 23, was born in Guatemala and is in the country illegally.

The Rocky Mountain News spoke with Aurora police spokesman Bob Friel on Monday.

Why was he still on the streets?

Time and time again, law enforcement has put Hernandez behind bars, but it's not up to the police to hand down sentencing. Ultimately, sentencing is handed down by a judge.

We have different arms of government responsible for different things. Let's not put all of government into one basket.

We've heard U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn't especially receptive to local law enforcement's referring suspects to them.

Aurora made more than 2,500 referrals to ICE last year, which is what Senate Bill 90 requires of local law enforcement. We're doing everything in our powers and resources to meet conditions of SB 90. It's up to ICE to deport illegal immigrants out of the country, not local law enforcement.

Is the Hernandez case unusual?

No. Just last month, our officers stopped a van carrying 14 people along Interstate 70 and Airport Road after suspecting a human smuggling operation.

They learned everyone in the van was born outside the country. When we contacted ICE to detain those folks, they said they would not respond to the scene.

We had no other choice but to release them because we didn't have the authority to detain them for immigration violations.

The driver was arrested on 13 counts of smuggling humans and for assaulting a police officer, but the other 13 people walked into the sunset.

What is your impression of Senate Bill 90, the so-called anti-sanctuary law?

Senate Bill 90 requires local law enforcement to notify ICE. The bottom line is we did over 2,500 times last year.

What are Aurora's criteria for referring someone to ICE as a suspected illegal immigrant?

Our written policy says if you have someone in custody and you have probable cause to believe he or she is foreign-born, then notification is made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.



http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2 ... -suspects/

They learned everyone in the van was born outside the country. When we contacted ICE to detain those folks, they said they would not respond to the scene.

We had no other choice but to release them because we didn't have the authority to detain them for immigration violations.

The driver was arrested on 13 counts of smuggling humans and for assaulting a police officer, but the other 13 people walked into the sunset.

This is just totally unbelievable.

Maybe part of this is that Colorado ICE didn't want to get out of bed at midnight to come get that van full of illegals.

Maybe part of it is them being overwhelmed.
In NYC, before Giuliani/Bratton, their were so many crimes that the cops couldn't devote proper attention to any but the most serious crimes.
When Giuliani came in and began doing whatever he did, the crime rate plummeted, and now pretty much every crime gets attention and they usually nail the criminal before s/he commits more crime. Case in point: 4 months ago, an aquaitance had his iPhone stolen by a man with a gun. Back in the 80s the cops would have taken a report and that would have been it. This time, a detective tracked the thief down, brought my acquaintance in for a lineup, and he ID'd the guy. The thief has been charged to the full extent of the law.

So how did we get to this point in NYC?
I do not know for sure. But the cops started arresting and fully prosecuting people for minor offenses, and created a sense of law and order in the city, and all kinds of crime plummetted. At that point, the cops had fewer crimes to investigate and prosecute, and they were no longer overwhelmed. That's the broken windows theory of crime.

So if we really enforce the immigration laws, over a period of time, we can reduce new immigration offenses and clear out the backlog, and then arrest, prosecute and deport new offenders with rapidity and effectiveness.

Obama would probably suspend enforcement of the immigration laws the minute he takes office.
McCain at least would continue enforcement pending his "comprehensive reform."