Thread: Local police shouldn't be U.S. immigration agents

http://www.rctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 7/MTCN0305

Wednesday, 03/08/06

Local police shouldn't be U.S. immigration agents

State lawmakers should ask Congress why immigration isn’t a high priority


State lawmakers are considering legislation that calls on Tennessee law enforcement officers to actively assist in helping in the identification and deportation of illegal immigrants.

Judging from the number of legislators who have signed on as sponsors of the legislation, the idea of using local police and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers on immigration cases is popular. But before state lawmakers vote on this measure, they need to do some homework.

First, they need to talk to the police chiefs, THP officers and the district attorneys in their districts. When they do, they will find stiff opposition to the idea because of the impact it could have on criminal investigations and community police efforts.

This newspaper recently had such a conversation with Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas and Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin, both of whom talked about their efforts to build ties to immigrant communities. Serpas specifically cited the recent breakthrough in a homicide investigation, which he attributed in part to cooperation from Nashville's Hispanic community.

Cooperation from the public is vital in all facets of police work. If Hispanics or people of other ethnicities believe that every time they talk to the police, the officers will ask for proof of their status, that trust would be shattered. And what about the thousands of native-born Tennesseans who may look like immigrants? Would police call upon them to prove their citizenship? If so, the practice would invite racial profiling.

Another conversation that state lawmakers need to have is with the Tennessee congressional delegation. They should ask members of Congress why the federal government hasn't accepted immigration as a high priority and approached it in a comprehensive way.

Local police and THP officers already alert immigration officials when they learn that someone in custody is in this nation illegally. That level of cooperation makes sense.

But Tennessee lawmakers can't expect local police to be effective in their jobs as peace-keepers and crime-solvers if they also are required to be immigration agents. Immigration control is a federal function. The federal government's failure to manage that job is no justification in foisting it off on local police and THP. •

BRIAN REMEMBER TO CREDIT THE AUTHOR IN THIS CASE

Tennessean OpEd Editor

In almost every other country, the local Police check your nationality. Why not in the US also?

Tim--you are correct.

And if they shouldn't be doing it, it seems awful damn funny that our local news at 6AM said that the federal gov't is "freeing up" funds to TRAIN the local law enforcement in TX to arrest and detain illegal aliens.

Now, that money, just like all the money for more border patrol agents, money to fund the medical care for illegal kids, etc. may never materialize but they seem to acknowledge that it is going to come about eventually.

I don't know why we have to TRAIN the police, but the idea that funds are designated for such a purpose means that it is a necessary service.

That local officers and highway patrol shouldn't be involved in checking for illegal aliens is just so much poppycock. The illegals come across the border and don't go directly to Washington DC...they head for communities from coast to coast. So the 'problem' is that they end up in our towns, in our neighborhoods and illegal immigration becomes a 'local' problem...not a 'federal' problem.

I think that what they worry about is that ICE doesn't have the required funding to pick these aliens up once they are arrested. What's the point in arresting them only to have ICE release them?

RR

Police officers swear to uphold the law, period. Do we have such a separtation between Federal and State laws that only some are enforced? I am actually stunned that the police in Tennessee need to reach out to communities that are filled with foreign nationals that should be deported.

Newmexican, I heartily agree.

RR

As long as the state benefits received by the illegals exceeds their state taxes paid in there is a fiscal economic argument in favor having a policy of state level police enforcement.

I'm so tired of this "it's not our job" since it's a federal issue. Bank robbery is also a federal crime. Local/state police sure get involved with bank robberies. Are they like illegals? Do they get to pick and choose the laws to enforce?

If anyone is from Maryland, I saw an interview with Council Perez on Fox News about to week ago. He kept saying "the Police Chief doesnt want to deal with illegal immigration. He has far more important things to do, and its the Federal government's job." (not completly word for word) I got on the phone and called his office as well as the Mtg cty police chief. I followed up my complaint with email. I got an email back from the police chief, which said the same old blablabla. But I never heard back from Councilman's Perez.