http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp ... Immig48609

Immigration concern abundant
By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer
8/6/2006

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Tulsa is among cities nationwide that face negative reaction to a lack of local police enforcement of laws.
In cities across the nation, groups, individuals and even elected officials who oppose illegal immigration are expressing their concerns about the lack of local police enforcement of immigration laws.

Tulsa, however, may be the first city in which a small group upset with the city's policy has demanded that the police chief be fired.

"I don't know of any other city where that extreme measure has been taken," said Tom Frazier, executive director of Major Cities Chiefs Association, a group of police chiefs from 59 of the country's largest cities.

"But having people or groups upset and protesting this issue is not unusual and happening everywhere," he said.

The Los Angeles Police Department is being sued for its hands-off policy in enforcing federal immigration laws, LAPD Officer Martha Garcia said.

The anti-illegal immigration groups are "very vocal" and fueled by a local radio station, she said. The LAPD has a policy similar to Tulsa's.

In May, the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina reported a rift between the mayor and police chief when the chief apologized to the Hispanic community
after one of his officers focused more on the citizenship status of a crime victim than the crime itself.

For Tulsa Police Chief Dave Been, the call for his removal stemmed from a news article that compared the handling of immigration laws between the Police Department and the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department.

Been's explanation of his department's hands-off approach in seeking out illegal immigrants angered a small group called Immigration Reform for Oklahoma Now, or IRON.

Been said police cannot enforce federal immigration rules that are mostly civil issues. Officers cite all traffic violators and when criminals are arrested and determined to be illegal immigrants, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is notified.

Been said his use of the term "bigot" last week in describing groups opposed to how local police agencies handle illegal immigration laws was not meant to be directed at the IRON group.

"My whole point was that when this (issue) comes up, there are people out there that are profane and bigoted," Been said.

"When you talk about sending everybody back to Mexico, that's bigoted to me. When you talk about locking everybody up that doesn't have their citizenship, that's bigoted to me," he said.

Been said there are many different categories of immigrants who are in the country illegally and some issues are clearly civil matters.

He said incidents that involve criminals require special training for local officers that gives them the authority to enforce that law.

Been said he has plans to meet with IRON this week.

Mayor Kathy Taylor said last week that she has no reason to act on IRON's demand.

Frazier said Tulsa's policy is "absolutely in the mainstream of law enforcement" and opposition groups across the nation are on the "fringe."

Local law enforcement agencies spend years building trust and nurturing community-oriented policing, which is the core to local crimefighting, he said.

"We're everybody's police. We strive for equity," the director of the national police chiefs group said.

Capt. Rich Lockhart, a Kansas City, Mo., police spokesman, said it is an "ignorance" issue with opposition groups.

"You can look all through history and see that we've had to work with groups in ignorance," he said. "Unfortunately, this is the group of people we are dealing with in ignorance right now.

"We have a positive relationship with our Hispanic community. They know we are not the immigration police," he said.

Fighting crime is the primary goal of police, and when a person is arrested, the crime is the focus and a person's citizenship status is secondary, Lockhart said.

So far, Kansas City has not faced public opposition over its policies, he said.

Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt, also president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, said racial bias is behind many of the opposition groups.

"To really look at it and be really honest, how can you not say that plays a role?" Hurtt asked.

He said the country also has a history that "when we need you, you're OK. When we don't need you, go home."

"Cheap labor is no longer a premium here" with outsourcing of jobs to other countries, he said.

Hurtt said enforcing immigration laws is a federal responsibility. Local law agencies don't have the manpower for a task that should first be addressed at the border, he said.

Hurtt said the undermining of elements needed for successful community-oriented policing, including adequate resources, training and the ability to enforce civil aspects of immigration law, as well as the increased risk of civil liability for local police and governments, are major concerns surrounding the enforcement of the federal law.

"If local law enforcement has to start enforcing immigration laws, I don't think these people who rear their heads realize we will then be asking everyone about citizenship, not just those that look like they came from south of the border," Hurtt said.

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Jeff Becker said no opposition groups have surfaced to challenge its policy on immigration laws, which is similar to Tulsa's.