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Immigrant measure panned

BY DANIEL WAGNER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

December 9, 2005

WASHINGTON - Immigrant rights advocates say New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's executive order protecting undocumented immigrants' access to city services, including police protection, has a loophole big enough to drive a cruiser through.

When Bloomberg signed Executive Order No. 41 in September 2003, it was heralded as one of the country's most progressive measures in protecting citizens' personal information, including immigration status.

The order, which bars police from inquiring about a person's immigration status "unless investigating illegal activity," was meant to foster cooperation between immigrant communities and public health and safety goals.

But now that the FBI's National Crime Information Center database includes thousands of immigration records, immigrant rights advocates argue that police can retrieve immigration information, in the course of routine traffic stops or identity checks, without actually "inquiring."

"When I talked to NYPD officers, they say, 'We can always say we're investigating illegal activity; we thought you jaywalked and we wanted to ask you about it.' In practice, it means NYPD is wholly exempted," said Michael J. Wishnie, a New York University law professor and fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based immigrant rights think tank.

But New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) says the NCIC immigration records are "fair game if [police] have a routine reason" to check a person's identity.

"In this day and age of terrorism, the police need all the discretion possible to report anyone who's suspected of breaking the law," he said.