Thread: KS: LIVING IN FEAR

LIVING IN FEAR
By ERIN MATHEWS
Salina Journal


J.Q. Rodriguez (left), and Gualberto Reyes, Hispanic Misintry Director for Salina Salvation Army, often work with local Hispanics to help resolve issues with law enforcement

Two uniformed immigration officials recently in Salina struck fear in the hearts of many in a local restaurant when they went in for lunch.

Long-time Salinan J.Q. Rodriguez said he got several calls from people who were in the restaurant wondering if they should leave immediately or stay and just hide their faces.

Rodriguez, who provides translating services for the Saline County Jail, Red Cross, Salvation Army and several other local organizations, said many Hispanic people living in the area are unnecessarily intimidated and fearful of anyone in uniform.

"I tell them if you haven't done anything wrong, there's nothing to worry about," he said.

Saline County Sheriff Glen Kochanowski agrees.

"Ninety-nine times out of 100 when you see a law enforcement officer drive by, he's not looking for you, but when you have that fear, you always think he is," Kochanowski said.

Language barriers, lack of understanding of a new culture and new laws and perceptions of law enforcement based on experiences in another country all contribute toward significant numbers of the Hispanic population being unsure of law enforcement, Kochanowski said.

"If law enforcement is corrupt where they come from, they automatically assume law enforcement is corrupt where they're going to," he said.

According to U.S. census figures, while Salina's overall population went down slightly between 2000 and 2006, the city's Hispanic population rose by 27 percent. According to the most recent U.S. census figures available, 4,123 out of 50,047 people living in Saline County in 2006 were Hispanic.

Kochanowski said his department is trying to reach out to the growing numbers of Hispanic people in Saline County to overcome fears and help crime victims among them.

"We're working with the community to say we're here to help," he said. "We're not here just to send everybody back to wherever they came from."

How U.S. laws differ

Envoy Gualberto Reyes, Hispanic Ministry director for the Salvation Army, said often people do not understand how laws in the United States are different from what they may have been accustomed to in Mexico or another country.

"Most of our people who have recently come to Salina come in thinking like they are in Mexico," he said.

Even though a relatively small number of Salina's Hispanic population is here illegally, many have family members or friends who may still be waiting for legal status, Rodriguez said. Even those who have no worries about legal status sometimes feel they are treated differently by law enforcement just because of the color of their skin.

"People say, 'Well, I was stopped because I'm brown,' " Rodriguez said.

But Rodriguez doesn't believe Salina law enforcement officers engage in racial profiling as a rule.

Both Police Chief Jim Hill and Kochanowski maintain open-door policies to discuss any problem people may have, he said.

"The sheriff and the chief have been very cooperative and assertive in their efforts to try to correct the situation," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, who was born in Kansas and has lived in Salina since he was a boy, remembers swimming in the Smoky Hill River, because he was not allowed to swim in the municipal pool, and watching movies from a special section at the back of the theater. The Civil Rights Act of 1965 changed all that, but it couldn't make prejudice completely disappear.

"It's still here, but it's not open," he said.

Using translation skills

Maribel Panuco, Hispanic services coordinator for Catholic Charities, 425 W. Iron, said the language barrier can be a real problem when a Hispanic person encounters law enforcement.

Inadequate translation or officers who assume a person is understanding them because they can say yes or no in English can lead to an intimidating situation for someone who doesn't understand what is happening, she said.

The Salina Police Department has at least two bilingual officers, and others who are taking Spanish for law enforcement classes to try to improve their ability to communicate.

Officer Carlos Londono immigrated with his family from Colombia when he was a boy. He grew up speaking Spanish at home and English at school, because his parents wanted the children to be bilingual. Now he uses his translating skills every day as a police officer.

"There are a lot of situations where a translator is needed," he said. "You can tell there's a calming effect when someone that understands you comes to the scene."

Londono said sometimes there are situations in which people are unaware they are breaking the law, and officers try to use those opportunities to educate instead of enforce.

"We tend to try to educate and warn them rather than just throw the book," he said. "We're here to help."

This won't be easy

Father Carlos Ruiz, who conducts Spanish Masses at Sacred Heart Cathedral, said officers have their work cut out for them trying to change attitudes about law enforcement in parts of the Hispanic community.

"They don't see law enforcement as an ally," he said. "They see them as an eye watching over them or a persecutor."

As part of an effort to improve communication, Kochanowski is working with La Voz de Salina, a local newspaper printed in Spanish, to educate people about law enforcement procedures.

Recent issues featured a step-by-step guide to how to bond a person out of county jail and how to use new features on the sheriff's department's Web site. Kochanowski said he had been told that people in the Hispanic community were afraid to bond their loved ones out because they had heard that the county would keep the money and not release the inmate.

There may be situations in which an inmate can't be released because no bond has been set or because another state or agency, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has placed a hold on that person, Kochanowski said. However, in those cases no bond money would be accepted at the county jail.

If a person ends up arrested and in jail for some type of offense, the sheriff's department will check on his or her legal status, Kochanowski said. However, just because ICE is notified does not mean that person will be deported, he said.

An ICE spokesman did not return calls for comment from the Journal.

Fear of being reported

Pamela Burrough, immigration project attorney for the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, said in a statement that it is essential that law enforcement officers understand the crucial role they play in ensuring the safety of immigrant and foreign-born crime victims.

"21.7 percent of immigrant victims report fear of being reported to immigration authorities as their primary reason for remaining in an abusive relationship," the statement said.

The fear of being reported is often enforced by the perpetrator's threats as well as law enforcement actions that can unintentionally endanger immigrant victims, Burrough wrote. Using family members or children to interpret or questioning a victim about immigration status are ways an officer can unintentionally prevent a domestic violence victim from escaping an abusive partner, Burrough said.

Because of their distrust, people aren't turning to law enforcement for help when they are the victims of crime. That makes them susceptible to all kinds of scams -- often perpetrated by people of their own race, Kochanowski said. Modern day "snake oil" salesmen have sold everything from fake Social Security numbers to fake driver's licenses to fake memberships to a Native American tribe.

"There are all kinds of things to rip these people off," he said. "They know the fear they're going through, and that they work hard and save their money, and they're easy targets."

They're here to work hard

Rodriguez, who is retired after working for Raytheon, the postal service and serving in three different branches of the military, said people need to keep in mind that most of the people coming to the United States from Mexico are here to work hard and find a better future for their children.

"Ninety percent are here with a real sincere desire to do what they can for the well being of their families," he said. "I tell kids to go to school. Maximize whatever aspirations you have, and be an achiever because tomorrow will come sooner than you think."

Rodriguez said he tells people who are struggling to learn English that they have a tremendous opportunity to enhance their earning power by becoming bilingual.

"Right now you're worth your weight in gold if you can speak Spanish," he said.

The sheriff's department is always interested in adding names to its list of on-call interpreters, who are paid by the hour, to facilitate communication with crime victims or jail inmates, Kochanowski said.

Kochanowski said he hopes that improving communication with Salina's Hispanic population will help overcome any reluctance to trust law enforcement.

"I think we're making in-roads working with the community," Kochanowski said. "We are a country of many, many mixed nationalities, and that's what makes this country what it is."

n Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by e-mail at emathews@salina.com.
http://www.salina.com/rdnews/story/hisp ... 8-18-clone

and these officers were eating food that aliens most likely prepared? as soon as they went in the place, every IA in there knew within seconds.

"Ninety-nine times out of 100 when you see a law enforcement officer drive by, he's not looking for you, but when you have that fear, you always think he is," Kochanowski said.

Let me just say, good! Keep them worrying, and the only reason for such worry is to know you have broken the laws of this country, starting with COMING HERE ILLEGALLY in the first place. Go home, so you know the threats you are living with there, instead of seeing a threat in our peacekeeping officers.

Rodriguez said he tells people who are struggling to learn English that they have a tremendous opportunity to enhance their earning power by becoming bilingual.

"Right now you're worth your weight in gold if you can speak Spanish," he said.

Notice how he didn't say that you would be worth your weight in gold if you spoke "English." Why should someone be worth 'gold' because they speak spanish in America? This is what concerns me ( among other things).

If these people were truly assimilating, why would speaking "spanish" be worth "gold" in this country?

They're here to work hard



They're here breaking the law. They should not be here and they have good reason to be afraid if they're breaking the law, the same as any criminal would.

They're here to work hard

"They're" also here to rob, rape, steal, commit crimes and see what they can rip off from America.

Rodriguez said he tells people who are struggling to learn English that they have a tremendous opportunity to enhance their earning power by becoming bilingual.

"Right now you're worth your weight in gold if you can speak Spanish," he said.

Really? Which "spanish" would that be?

"Even though a relatively small number of Salina's Hispanic population is here illegally, many have family members or friends who may still be waiting for legal status"

Waiting for legal status? What the . . .!! Does this meaning hiding out until amnesty rolls around?