Chief has doubts about call for local police to enforce immigration laws

Feb 24, 2008

By Harold Reutter


Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has suggested that local Nebraska law enforcement agencies consider signing agreements with the federal government to perform "select immigration enforcement duties."
Bruning has brought the idea to Gov. Dave Heineman, who has told reporters that there should be widespread support for such an action before the state signs an agreement.

After that idea was raised, several people around the state questioned whether local law enforcement agencies had enough resources to add even limited immigration enforcement duties to their current responsibilities.

Grand Island Police Chief Steve Lamken has questions about that as well.

"The program doesn't give you additional resources," he said.

Lamken said the issue of resources begins with training.

"It's not just four or five hours of training," he said.

Bruning spokeswoman Leah Bucco-White sent information on the Section 287(g) program offered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which operates under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The federal "Frequently Asked Questions" document says, "ICE offers two training programs including a five-week program for field-level law enforcement officers and a four-week program for correctional/detention personnel."

Lamken said that's time that Grand Island police officers would not be available to perform their regular duties.

Even if Grand Island participated in the 287(g) program, it would only result in a limited increase in immigration enforcement. Police can only use the program when people are taken into custody for violating state or local criminal laws.

The Frequently Asked Questions document published by ICE says, "Police cannot randomly ask for a person's immigration status or conduct immigration raids."

But Lamken said even the limited enforcement program offered by 287(g) could be counterproductive to his goal of maintaining good relations with Grand Island's immigrant community.

Although Heineman has said he wants to gauge the level of support before moving forward, Lamken said he has not been contacted by either Bruning's or Heineman's office to find out how he feels about the program.

He said the issue may be more of a policy question for the mayor and city council members. Lamken said he would do want they want.

Although the Section 287(g) program has garnered a lot of recent attention, it is not a new law. That section was added as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996.

Since that time, ICE has established 22 Memorandums of Agreement and has trained 349 law enforcement officers under the 287(g) program. The ICE document says those trained officers have arrested 20,000 people under the program.

Some people have estimated that about 12 million illegal immigrants may be living in the United States.

Lamken added that, even without the 287(g) program, the Grand Island Police Department has an ongoing, good relationship with ICE.

Any time an immigrant is arrested for a serious felony and cannot document his or her immigration status, he said, ICE officials are notified. ICE officials usually get involved with deportation proceedings when the person charged with a serious crime is in the country illegally.

Even with more minor arrests, ICE has access to the information if a person cannot document his or her immigration status, Lamken said. However, that does not always lead to ICE involvement. The police chief believes he knows why.

"ICE does not have unlimited resources, either," he said.

Lamken said illegal immigration is a problem.

Nevertheless, Lamken said, he believes most Grand Island immigrants are living in the United States legally.

It was pointed out that the 2006 ICE raid at the Grand Island Swift plant resulted in 261 people being detained. The local Swift plant employs about 2,700 people.

That statistic would seem to indicate the vast majority of immigrant employees working at Swift in December 2006 were living in the United States legally.

Lamken, though, declined to speculate on whether the ratio of illegal immigrants to legal immigrants in Grand Island is the same as the relatively low ratio of employees who were detained compared to overall employment at the Swift plant in December 2006.

"It's hard to quantify," Lamken said.

Maria Lopez, who works as a minority recruiter for Central Community College-Grand Island, said Sudanese and Somali immigrants are political refugees. She believes 100 percent of these Grand Island immigrants are living in the United States legally.

Lopez said more Hispanic immigrants in Grand Island are in this country illegally, and she indicated that the numbers probably constitute a significant percentage.

But Lopez said that many people who are living here legally as permanent residents are taking the next step and seeking to become U.S. citizens. Becoming a citizen gives them a greater sense of comfort, because they know they cannot be deported.

Lopez said some immigrants fear police because of anti-immigrant laws passed in other states. She said Nebraska and Grand Island have not taken such steps, and that makes immigrants feel at least a little more comfortable here.

She noted that the Grand Island Police Department did not get involved with the December 2006 ICE raid at the Swift plant. Because of that, Lopez said, she feels she can tell people that they can trust the local police.

Lamken noted that Grand Island police helped with traffic and security outside the plant during the enforcement action. He said ICE officials informed him that they may ask police to come inside the plant if they found any violations of state or local criminal laws.

But that never happened, Lamken said. As a result, ICE officials were able to carry out their enforcement action without any outside help.

Lamken said many people sincerely want a resolution to the problem of illegal immigration, but there probably is no simple answer to the issue.


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