Thread: Illegal Immigrants Account For 44 Percent Of Worst Drug Case

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Illegal Immigrants Account For 44 Percent Of Worst Drug Cases

By Lori Harrison-Stone
The Morning News
ROGERS -- Of the 57 arrests for delivery or intent to deliver drugs in Rogers since the first of 2005, 43 were Hispanic and 25 were illegal immigrants, according to statistics gathered by Mayor Steve Womack on Wednesday.

"Forty-four percent of the worst-of-the-worst drug arrests were illegals," Womack said. "Forty-four percent of the big stuff should be a major concern to the citizens of this community."

Womack's plan now for dealing with the illegal immigration issue is to enlist six Rogers police officers in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement 287(g) program. The program provides law enforcement with training and authorization to identify, process and, if needed, detain illegal immigrants.

Since first announcing plans to come up with some kind of local process for dealing with illegal immigrants, Womack has maintained many of the drug cases city officers handle concern illegal immigrants. Wednesday, he tracked down the numbers through Police Chief Steve Helms.

The city considered regulations imposing fines on landlords renting to illegal immigrants and suspension of businesses hiring them, but Womack said Wednesday training local officers to enforce immigration law may be a more direct way to deal with the problem

"A law enforcement approach is better," he said. "The problem is, there is a gap between what we can do on a local level and what federal (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents do. We have to rely on them, but there's only seven in the state and two up here. We could use seven up here, many times seven, really."

He estimates it will cost about $300,000 for the city to hire an additional six officers to make up for six seasoned officers that would be sent through the federal training program. Womack said the training would take five to six weeks and would be a quick way for the city to start addressing the problem. He wrote a letter this week to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, asking that the city be allowed to participate in the program.

Rogers aldermen seem to be leaning toward supporting the plan if the city's participation is approved.

Alderman Buddy Wright said he would support such training and would likely support additions to the Police Department to make it happen. But, Wright said, he would want to make sure Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would support their efforts. He also wants to make sure there's no racial profiling, but believes it would be good for city police officers to be able to deal with an illegal immigrant when needed.

Alderman Jim Clark also likes the idea of training and authorizing local officers to handle immigration issues. He wants to see if the city can shift its police officers around some to make up the six officers to be dedicated to the program before agreeing to hire more.

"I think the mayor is on target when he says this is a law enforcement problem," Clark said.

Alderman Barney Hayes said he wants to study the issue more before he decides whether to back the plan, if it is officially proposed.

"If they're here illegally, something needs to be done," Hayes said, adding the rules can't just apply to Hispanics, but illegal immigrants of any race.

Alderman Bob Goodwin believes it's a good idea, but he hates the city has to consider such action. Goodwin said he's made several good friends of local Hispanics and doesn't want any proposal to reflect badly on the entire Hispanic community.

Goodwin said he is "kind of surprised" by the numbers regarding drug arrests Womack sent to him by e-mail Wednesday.

"We've got a problem and we need to address it," Goodwin said.

Alderman Greg Hines said he would support participation in the federal training program and would also support hiring more police officers to help the city deal with the issue.

"In principle, I agree with the point that it's a federal issue," Hines said. "But, at some point, we have to be able to protect quality of life of every citizen who calls this community home."

AT A GLANCE

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Rogers Mayor Steve Womack sent a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, asking the city be allowed to participate in the federal program for training and authorizing local law enforcement to deal with illegal immigrants provided in Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

He wrote: "While it is impossible to determine the number of illegal residents residing and/or working in our city, the growing number of incidents involving illegal residents has negatively impacted the quality of life here.

"Two recent events underscore this impact. The first incident involved the death of an innocent motorist -- shot and killed in a road rage incident in the Rogers/Lowell area -- perpetrated by an illegal resident who moved here from California. The second incident involved the near-fatal shooting of a Rogers police officer while executing a search warrant on a residence where illegal narcotics were distributed. The residence was inhabited by illegal residents, one of whom was directly involved in the shooting."

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"A law enforcement approach is better," he said. "The problem is, there is a gap between what we can do on a local level and what federal (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents do. We have to rely on them, but there's only seven in the state and two up here. We could use seven up here, many times seven, really."

It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out. Close the border, clean up the interior, and reopen it again when we have a solid plan of action. The politicians are worried about losing money, but America is hemorrhaging right now.

Drugs...don't get me started. If every American who is using drugs right now, stopped their habit, we would not see half of the illegal traffic that we see now. Some of the very people complaining about illegal immigration are indulging in bad habits that promote the crime.