Thread: Local authorities , leave immigration enforcement to feds

Monday, Aug 25, 2008


Posted on Sat, Aug. 23, 2008
Local authorities should leave immigration enforcement to feds, police study says
By NIN-HAI TSENGCox New Service





WASHINGTON — Local and state police should leave immigration enforcement up to federal agencies, according to the preliminary findings of a Police Foundation study.

Through a series of focus groups that brought together academics, law enforcement officials, human-rights groups and other stakeholders, the foundation found that most prefer federal authorities to enforce immigration laws instead of local police and sheriff’s departments.

The Police Foundation is an independent nonprofit that seeks to help law enforcement officials improve policing. Its findings, which will be included in a full report in the coming months, were presented at a two-day conference hosted by the foundation that ended Friday. Among those attending as presenters or speakers was Arlington Police Chief Theron Bowman.

Some local officials said their agencies lack the expertise and resources to detain illegal immigrants. By helping to conduct crackdowns, community police and sheriff’s agencies risk straining trust with locals whom police rely on for tips to fight crime, they say.

"If the community doesn’t trust us, it makes our job harder," said El Paso Mayor John Cook, one of several speakers at the conference who touched on the growing fear within many communities after immigration raids. Cook and other local leaders urged Congress to work on an immigration overhaul as they struggle to make sense of what they see as incoherent federal policies.

The mayor, who supports providing illegal immigrants with a path toward legal status, added that the city’s officers aren’t nearly as well-trained as federal agents in enforcing immigration laws. The lack of expertise puts the city at risk of expensive lawsuits, Cook said, pointing to one in Katy.

Cook is among many Texas officials who have opposed being part of a federal program that allows locally designated officers and deputies to perform immigration law enforcement duties through training with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The Travis County sheriff’s office also does not participate in the program.

"We don’t have enough manpower to enforce the local and state laws right now," Sheriff Greg Hamilton said Friday. "By us bringing in another area of enforcement, all it’s going to do is diminish what we were sanctioned to do — crime fighting."

Hamilton added that immigration policies are not easily understood.

"I’m not talking about two weeks of training or three weeks of training," he said. "There are hundreds and hundreds of different visas."
http://www.star-telegram.com/national_n ... 54293.html

Through a series of focus groups that brought together academics, law enforcement officials, human-rights groups and other stakeholders, the foundation found that most prefer federal authorities to enforce immigration laws instead of local police and sheriff’s departments.

Did any of these "stakeholders" include representatives of the vast majority of Americans who oppose another amnesty -- based upon serious concerns about the environmental impacts of mass illegal immigration, the impacts of this upon our schools, prison system, wages etc. ?

Local and state police should leave immigration enforcement up to federal agencies, according to the preliminary findings of a Police Foundation study.

NO!!!

The Feds will just give AMNESTY!!!

I smell a truck load of BS Pie headed our way.

W

It is time for the illegal "hot potato" game to stop! It would be interesting if our tax dollars only went to the government body that handled the illegals problems for us....then the State and Fed would be clamoring to do the job!