Immigration office to open

By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
9/21/2008
Last Modified: 9/21/2008 2:42 AM

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, who has been fighting to get immigration agents assigned to Tulsa for years, announced a permanent office will be opened to go after fugitive aliens and those with criminal records.

"They know now their days of harming our community are over,'' the Oklahoma Republican said of the criminals who will be targeted by the new office. "They are going after them.''

Illegal immigration has been a major issue for Sullivan since he first ran for Congress.

Frustrations over the way possibly illegal immigrants were released following a traffic stop several years ago led him to introduce legislation in 2004 directing the government to open an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Tulsa.

Instead of a field office, ICE has decided to open a Fugitive Operations Team.

Sullivan said this office will not be going out to job sites and looking for illegal immigrants who may be working in the area.

"I just want people to know that's not what this is about,'' he said. "It is not going to be rounding up guys framing houses and washing dishes.''

Sullivan said this office will focus on national security, community safety, street gang members, child sex offenders and those with prior convictions for violent crimes.

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok confirmed the congressman's announcement, adding the team could be fully operational in Tulsa as early as next month.

Currently, Rusnok said, ICE has 95 such teams around the country and normally each has seven employees.

Many of those targeted by the teams are criminals, he said, but some are not.

Those include aliens who have been ordered by a court to depart the United States but are still here, Rusnok said.

First established in 2003, Fugitive Operations Teams give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and community safety. Rusnok said the teams have been credited with helping to reduce the number of fugitive aliens in the U.S.

Estimates, he said, now place the number of fugitive aliens in the country at about 570,000. Rusnok said at their peak that number was about 632,000.

Sullivan's announcement, described as a victory for the congressman by Rusnok, no doubt is a major development in his years-long fight over what he viewed as a lax approach by the federal government.

Sullivan said he has developed a positive working relationship with Julie Myers, who heads up ICE.

"Under her leadership, ICE has responded to the public outcry for robust immigration enforcement throughout Oklahoma and across the country,'' he said.

Sullivan still questions whether the Bush administration lacks the will or courage to enforce current law.

"I've been since day one on their butts trying to get something done,'' he said.

"They've gone from doing nothing to addressing it somewhat to doing something now.''

Meanwhile, Sullivan said he attempted to take care of the problem himself.

He pointed to efforts to increase the number of ICE agents in Oklahoma City, which has both a field office and a Fugitive Operations Team.

His announcement also follows implementation of the so-called 287g program that allows deputies in Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz's office to be cross-deputized to help enforce federal immigration law.

Undersheriff Brian Edwards said Glanz's vision of the program resulted in a great working relationship with ICE officials.

"Our community is safer because of this,'' Edwards said. "It will become safer.''
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