When should police check immigrant status?
By CURT BROWN and PAM LOUWAGIE


The woman witnesses say drove her van into a school bus, killing four children in Cottonwood, Minn., last week, apparently had two earlier traffic encounters with law enforcement. Both times officers issued tickets and gave her a ride home without checking her immigration status.

Olga M. Franco’s ability to remain in Minnesota, using a phony name and ID card, has prompted outrage from the U.S. Congress to blogs.

But police chiefs in southwestern Minnesota offer a practical and ethical explanation: They say they don’t detain minor offenders because immigration officials haven’t come to pick up them up in the past. And they don’t want to engage in racial profiling.

“Should a police officer hold everyone who is stopped without a license to substantiate that they are or are not who they say they are?â€