Thread: NM-Mayoral candidate decries 'sanctuary city policy'

Posted at: 06/24/2009 6:01 PM
Updated at: 06/25/2009 7:45 AM
By: Eyewitness News 4



Mayoral candidate decries 'sanctuary city policy'

Richard BerryA candidate for mayor says Albuquerque is a sanctuary city for foreign criminals because of a question police aren't allowed to ask suspects.

Richard "RJ" Berry says if he is elected mayor, things will change.

"I will get rid of the so-called sanctuary city policy that Mayor Chavez has put in place that prohibits officers from asking suspects in crimes about their immigration status," he said Wednesday.

At least two suspected gangster gunmen in the deadly Denny's robbery spent some time in the Bernalillo County jail in recent months.

Pablo Ortiz even got deported back home to El Salvador, but came back. There was no deportation though for wanted fugitive Francisco Melgar, even after two drunk driving arrests. Their fellow El Salvadoran, Marvin Lopez Aguilar, like Ortiz, is behind bars.

Denny's cook Stephanie Anderson was shot to death in the robbery. Melgar, Ortiz, and Aguilar all face murder charges in addition to armed robbery. The suspects are all from El Salvador. Police have linked them to nine restaurant holdups and say they are associated with the Salvadoran street gang MS-13.

Mayor Chavez says the accusation that Albuquerque is a sanctuary city is nonsense.

"Albuquerque is of course not a sanctuary city," he said.

Chavez says police do ask about suspects' immigration status, just not in all situations.

"If there's a suspect in a crime being questioned for a crime, then the officer makes inquiry. What we don't do is on a routine traffic stop, ask people for citizenship papers," he said. "I think most Americans would agree that's not the way to handle traffic stops in America."

Candidate Richard Romero says the sanctuary debate misses the point.

"This is a gang issue -- that's what these things are and we ought to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law," he said. "That's where it's at."

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S995 ... ml?cat=516

I think all police should ask everyone their immigration status, ask me I don't mind.

Berry, GOP blame Denny's murder on immigration rules

By Marjorie Childress 6/26/09 3:10 AM

Richard "R.J." Berry at a press conference outside city hall.
ALBUQUERQUE — In the wake of a violent robbery at a crowded Denny’s restaurant on the West Side that left one person dead, Albuquerque mayoral candidate Richard “R.J.â€