Thread: Sheriff Jones given authority to detain illegals

Sheriff given authority to detain illegals
Community leader worries power could lead to racial profiling.
By Mary Lolli

Staff Writer

Thursday, December 14, 2006

HAMILTON — The Butler County Sheriff's Office has been granted federal authority to arrest and detain suspected illegal immigrants pending training of local deputies and the signing of a formal agreement. The power has been granted to only eight other local-level law enforcement agencies in the United States.

But with that power comes concern from some community leaders worried that racial profiling could become a greater problem than illegal immigration.

Sheriff Richard K. Jones' office was notified Wednesday that his request for those powers under the Immigration and Nationality Act had been approved by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office.

ICE will now provide the sheriff's office with training and "direct authority to identify, process and, when appropriate, detain immigration offenders" encountered during regular, daily law enforcement activities, according to a statement from the sheriff's office.

"I'm elated. I've been waiting for this for a year and a half. It's been a long time coming, but finally, the Butler County Sheriff's Office is going to have the authority to enforce what some have said we would never have the authority to enforce," Jones said. "Those naysayers should never underestimate the sheriff's office."

During that waiting period, Jones protested that the federal government doesn't have the resources to keep up with illegal immigration at the local level. ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the special authority to be granted to the sheriff's office seeks to bridge those disparities.

"It's a numbers game," Kice said. "There are 5,500 ICE agents out there compared to hundreds of thousands of local and state officers."

In anticipation of receiving the authority, Jones earlier this week sent a delegation of six deputies to North Carolina's Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office, where local police were given immigration enforcement powers in February. Since then, nearly 1,000 illegal immigrants have been identified and charged with immigration violations, according to ICE.

The next, and final, phase to complete the new local immigration authority will include a training program for at least 10 deputies and the signing of a written agreement for operations with ICE.

The Rev. Josh Colon, pastor of the Hispanic ministry at Princeton Pike Church of God, West, said his only concern with the sheriff's new authority is that it could lead to racial profiling. Not every Hispanic, or every person who appears to be Hispanic is necessarily an illegal immigrant, Colon cautioned.

"To me, a human being is a human being and there are a lot of people who have needs and who we need to love and care about," Colon said. "When we start profiling people, we stop loving them. That's my biggest concern."

Shelly Jarrett Bromberg, assistant professor of Spanish and American and Latin American Studies at Miami University said it's important for the public to understand that most of the immigration enforcement agreements require local law enforcement agencies to work under the direction of ICE.

"I would have to see the actual memorandum of understanding between our sheriff's office and ICE before I could comment directly about it, but by and large, those agreements have been pretty standard and they don't give local law enforcement the level of authority one might think."

Still, Bromberg expressed concern that a lack of understanding about the limits of the immigration authority agreement could make immigrants more susceptible to crime because they may become reluctant to report their own victimization.

Bromberg serves with Colon as a member of the Butler County Community Alliance — a 75-member organization dedicated to improving cross-cultural communications and making immigrants feel safe and welcome in the local community.

"We are trying to work with a very diverse and vibrant community and it's important that the public not react hastily regarding this recent development with the sheriff's office," Bromberg said.

Jones dismissed concerns about potential racial profiling as political rhetoric.

"It's against the law to engage in racial profiling," Jones said. "We've never done that and we're going to handle this like we handle any other crime — responsibly and within the bounds of the law."


Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2192 or mlolli@coxohio.com
http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/ ... =dh-121406

Well, thank goodness for this Sherriff. I'm glad to know someone in Ohio is working on protecting the LEGAL citizens!

"I'm elated. I've been waiting for this for a year and a half. It's been a long time coming, but finally, the Butler County Sheriff's Office is going to have the authority to enforce what some have said we would never have the authority to enforce," Jones said. "Those naysayers should never underestimate the sheriff's office."

I 'm elated too!!

I love this guy!
Sheriff Jones!

BTW, He's got his own website too.