Suffern seeks police partnership with federal immigration authorities

By SUZAN CLARKE
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: September 27, 2007)

SUFFERN - The village board and police department are considering entering into a law enforcement agreement with federal immigration authorities in order to curb violent crime in the illegal immigrant community.

Chief Clarke Osborn said today that the village would apply to the Department of Homeland Security for acceptance into a program run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would permit local officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions.

Those functions would include filing federal papers to have violent offenders deported, Osborn said.

It is the first time a police department in Rockland would enter into such an agreement.

He stressed that the measure was aimed at criminals and not at the rest of the village's Hispanic community.

About 12 percent of the village's 11,000 residents are Hispanic, according to the 2000 U.S. Census - though some say the actual population was underestimated. Many of the village's Hispanics are thought to be undocumented.

"We are targeting criminals, illegals who are committing crimes," Osborn said. "We have a very good relationship with the Hispanic community in the village … and we're going to continue that."

Gail Golden, who co-leads the Rockland Immigration Coalition, was dismayed to learn of the initiative, and raised concerns about its possible effects.

"There's a lot of concern in the advocacy community and, really, among some law enforcement communities, that the immigrant community will no longer be trustful of local law enforcement as safe people to report things to ... things like domestic abuse and neighborhood crimes," Golden said.

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... /709270445