Thread: N.Y. Town Cops May Soon Be Immigration Officers

Mar 27, 2008 10:40 pm US/Central

N.Y. Town Cops May Soon Be Immigration Officers

Residents Fearful '287G' Will Force Them Out Of Area
SUFFERN, N.Y. (CBS) ― In a town where roughly one in five residents speaks Spanish, the police department is asking for permission to begin doing immigration enforcement work.

Suffern, N.Y. is the first jurisdiction in our area to ask the federal government to cross designate its police officers as federal agents trained to identify undocumented immigrants using federal data bases, and file deportation proceedings against arrested immigrants who have criminal records and no legal status in the U.S.

Mayor John Keegan says he asked his police chief to make the application after a series of crimes involving members of Suffern's growing immigrant community, which is mostly Mexican.

At an information meeting on the program Thursday night, an overflow crowd of about 200 people jammed the town's tiny meeting room to hear Keegan and Police Chief Clarke Osborn assure worried Hispanic residents that the proposal was not directed at them.

"We're going after criminals," Chief Osborn told the skeptical crowd. "It doesn't matter where they're from. If they're here illegally and they're criminals, that's what 287 G deals with."

He was referring to the federal law that allows the immigration enforcement partnership. In fact, supporters of the move wore special T-shirts emblazoned with the Suffern PD logo and the words "Support 287 G."

Suffern resident Gene Flynn told CBS station WCBS-TV In New York City he was annoyed by the suggestion that the idea was somehow directed against the growing Hispanic population in the Rockland County town.

"We're not targeting Hispanics," he insisted. "We're targeting felons, repeat felons."

It was hard not to notice, though, that many in the audience apparently opposed to the idea were Hispanics with little or no command of the English language. Some openly expressed their fears in their second language.

"If this law is approved," one man offered, "I won't feel safe anymore. I will no longer trust the police department. I will leave the town."

Some have suggested privately, that driving Hispanics from the community is precisely the goal. The town has businesses that offer "Se Habla Espanol," in their windows, and others that do not. Everyone agrees that a sizable percentage of the Spanish-speaking people who live in Suffern are undocumented. If the undocumented are scared off, it's believed the businesses that cater to them will suffer.

Steve Mannion, an attorney hired by the town to shepherd the 287G application through the federal system, says otherwise law-abiding undocumented aliens need not fear the provision.

"Rapists, murderers, robbers, child molesters are the target audience," he said, "not people driving without a license, not people working illegally."

But undocumented or "illegal" aliens are nervous by nature, and local police have always had a difficult time getting them to trust the authorities when they are victimized or can help solve a crime.

Teenager Maria Rabio was uneasy as she left the meeting.

"What they say sounds fine," she told WCBS-TV, "but I worry about someone taking advantage of this. I wonder why they feel they need it now."

Town officials still need to figure out where they'll house federal prisoners if their application to enforce Immigration violations succeeds. They are hopeful, however, that the plan could be in effect before Labor Day.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

http://wcco.com/national/immigration.su ... 86633.html

Articles like this make be absolutely sick! The town leaders know they have a large population of illegals, yet they refuse to go after them. I mean come on, these folks are walking right into town council meetings and spouting off in Spanish.

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March 27, 2008


Immigration enforcement plan draws huge crowd in Suffern

Suzan Clarke
The Journal News

SUFFERN - A community meeting to address concerns about a village proposal to partner with federal immigration enforcement authorities drew hundreds of people tonight.

More than 30 people spoke during the two-hour event. While they all seemed to agree with the intent of the proposal - to keep the community safe - they seemed about evenly split about concerns that the program could have a negative effect on the local economy and the immigrant population, both legal and illegal.

"Suffern should use every weapon we have to fight crime, and the Police Department should not be handcuffed," Michael Curley said.

But Noel Gregorio, originally from Guatemala, said he was worried.

"If this law is approved, believe me, I won't feel safe anymore," he said. "I will lose trust in the Police Department. I think that I will leave town because I will feel that I am not welcome ... I will sell my home and I will go back to my country.

Suffern is among the first municipalities in the state to signal its intention to join 287(g), a federal program that lets U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement partner with local law enforcement. Under the accord, local officers are trained to identify criminals who are undocumented, detain them on immigration charges and start deportation proceedings.

Village Police Chief Clarke Osborn and Mayor John Keegan both has stressed that the program is intended only to catch violent criminals or felons. Undocumented immigrants who are arrested on a DWI charge also would be subject to a check of their immigration status.

Osborn has said other law enforcement departments in the state are paying close attention to the village's progress.

Officials in Brewster are considering a similar plan.

Last week, Suffern was told by New York state that it could not use the county jail to house prisoners detained under the 287(g) program.

However, undocumented immigrants who are sent to county jail on local charges and who have prior immigration detainers placed on them may be held at the jail for pick-up by immigration authorities for up to 48 hours after they are ordered released on the local charge, local and state officials have said.

www.lohud.com

"If this law is approved, believe me, I won't feel safe anymore," he said. "I will lose trust in the Police Department. I think that I will leave town because I will feel that I am not welcome ... I will sell my home and I will go back to my country."

Aaah, finally, a threat I can live with!!!!!