REGION: Federal immigration agents working from North County Sheriff's stations

By MORGAN COOK mcook@nctimes.com
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 10:00 pm

For about a month, a federal immigration agent assigned to the North County Regional Gang Task Force has been working part-time from a desk at the Sheriff's Department's Fallbrook substation, where he is more readily available to help deputies identify and arrest criminal illegal immigrants, authorities said Wednesday.

Deputies have always been able to call the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the task force to help identify and arrest suspects, Lt. Robert Haley of the Fallbrook Sheriff's Substation said Wednesday. But the agents' assignments take them all over the county, and it hasn't always been practical to call for help with routine patrol calls or traffic stops, he said.

"They have always been available, but it increased our effectiveness and their effectiveness because they're right there," Haley said, adding, "We encourage deputies to call him."

The agent does not patrol with deputies, but they can call him to identify suspects who have been detained for any crime and don't have government-issued identification, Haley said. If the agent finds that the person is an illegal immigrant with a criminal history or who is defying a judge's deportation order, the agent may arrest the person.

If the person is only in the country illegally, agents may let the person go, Haley said.

Haley said other ICE agents assigned to the Regional Gang Task Force also work with deputies in the Vista and San Marcos stations. No ICE agent has a desk in the San Marcos Sheriff's Station, Capt. Mike Barnett said.

The partnership between the Sheriff's Department and federal agents is similar to one in place in Escondido. In fact, Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said the ICE agents working with deputies were trained by the federal agents working with his department.

"After we started the program a year ago, they sent some more agents up here so they could deploy to (sheriff's offices in) Vista, San Marcos and Fallbrook," Maher said. "They trained with our folks, they saw how it worked in our city, and they saw our restrictions."

Haley said deputies' relationship with ICE seems similar in some ways to the Escondido Police Department's partnership with the federal agency ---- but deputies and agents don't work as closely.

For example, Haley said, the agent who works at the Fallbrook substation is only there a few days a week, and he works most often on the gang task force's assignments. He also does not routinely go out in a car to support patrol officers.

The partnership between ICE and Escondido police began in May 2010, and it has resulted in at least 581 arrests, officials said.

Maher said the Escondido Police Department has the most restrictive policy in the county for when officers may call ICE agents. He said a subject detained in connection with a traffic violation or more serious crime must meet one of three criteria: the officer must recognize the person as someone who has been deported in the past, the detained person must admit to being in the country illegally, or the detained person must be unable to provide government-issued identification.

He added that even if detainees don't have proper identification with them, officers will not call ICE if they can find evidence of proper identification using a computer search.

Maher said the restrictive policies are in place because immigration policy is so hotly contested in Escondido. He said police want to make it as clear as possible that they are only after illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

"We go after the criminals and the prior deports," Maher said. "We don't have the resources to go after every illegal (immigrant) that is here, but we do have the resources to use that tool (ICE) to remove ... criminals and that's what we do.

"I think the fact it (the partnership between local law enforcement and ICE) expanded to those three stations, and we have inquiries from the LA County Sheriff's Department, it shows me that the policy we have makes this city safer and it makes sense."

Critics disagree, saying the partnerships make Latinos feel targeted and afraid, and it makes them less likely to report crimes.

Bill Flores, a former assistant sheriff and a member of El Grupo, an umbrella organization of human rights groups, said any close partnership with a federal agency ---- whether it's the IRS or the Environmental Protection Agency ---- could be a bad idea for local law enforcement.

"Federal law enforcement agencies are not concerned at all with community relations," he said. "They don't have community relations ----- they don't have to because they work on a national level. But for local law enforcement, community relations is essential for effective law enforcement."

Victor Torres, a spokesman for North County-based El Grupo, said Escondido's partnership with ICE has made Latinos less likely to trust the police, and the same could happen to the Sheriff's Department.

"How is the community going to trust the Sheriff's Department?" Torres asked. "It means folks in the community aren't going to call when they need help."

Haley said deputies have attempted to prevent that problem in Fallbrook by holding a community forum to explain why the substation is getting help from ICE, and how the partnership will work.

Call staff writer Morgan Cook at 760-739-6675.

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