Thread: Imm. smackdown...NY Assblyman Ball vs. New Haven's Destefano

June 3, 2008

Ball debates immigration with mayor of New Haven, Conn., his ideological opposite

Leah Rae
The Journal News

NEW YORK - Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, engaged in a mini-debate yesterday with the mayor of New Haven, Conn., his ideological opposite on the question of illegal immigration.

The two appeared in a forum at John Jay College of Criminal Justice that examined changes in immigration enforcement - specifically, the growing enlistment of local police. The two represented opposing currents in the actions of local governments.

Arguing for a crackdown, Ball said illegal immigrants are threatening neighborhood safety and national security because they enter without criminal background checks.

As the assemblyman ticked off statistics about illegal immigrants charged with crimes, Mayor John DeStefano maintained, "It's about race. Immigration policy in this nation has always been about race."

The forum looked at ways in which immigration enforcement is moving into the criminal arena, blurring the lines between what hass traditionally been two separate spheres. A recent workplace raid in Iowa, for example, resulted in hundreds of workers charged not only with immigration violations, but also felony charges for using false documents. Criminal charges are also rising at the Mexican border. Around the country, state and local police officers are taking on deportation duties under agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

New Haven is one of dozens of communities publicly pushing the other way. City policy allows for cooperation between New Haven police and immigration officials, but it also formalizes a fairly common practice: Police will not ask about a person's status unless they are investigating a crime. DeStefano made headlines a year ago by introducing municipal identification cards that can, among other things, be used by illegal immigrants to open bank accounts and access city services. The initiative came just before an immigration raid.

Ball is pushing to have New York's state and county police pursue the federal immigration-training program known as 287(g). He said the program "focuses like a surgical laser" on serious criminals, including inmates who are released back into the community when they should be deported. "The vast majority of times, they're not sent back," Ball said.

Peter Smith, who heads ICE operations in New York, said most prisoners in New York are checked for their immigration status before their release, but that he can't say it's "100 percent."

ICE assigns agents to perform the checks in larger jails like Westchester County's, he said. But Smith said he would like to see the 287(g) training program expand into New York's state and county law enforcement agencies. The program has limited capacity nationwide, he noted, and new applicants face a two-year wait.

Local police departments are under increasing pressure to take a stand.

Robert Buckley, a captain at the Westchester County jail, attended the forum on behalf of the Affiliated Police Association of Westchester County. He said the association of 52 local law enforcement agencies was trying to formulate a position.

Some police officials have already spoken up.

"This theory that we're going to arrest our way out of the immigration problem is wrong," White Plains Public Safety Commissioner Frank Straub said in an interview last week, "and I think that it's a federal responsibility to control the borders."

Straub said his department would certainly work with immigration officials as needed to solve crimes and would notify ICE if a criminal suspect turns out to have an immigration warrant. But he described White Plains' approach as one that aims to help new immigrants assimilate rather than alienate them further.

"I believe that local police have the responsibility of protecting the rights of everybody that lives in the community. And it is not up to us to be engaged in discussions regarding somebody's immigration status," he said.

The 287(g) program was created 12 years ago, but gained a flurry of interest during the past few years. Brewster and Suffern village leaders have spoken up in favor, but the program is meeting wide resistance in immigrant communities because of fears of racial profiling. Some police say the program could destroy the community's trust and interfere with crime-solving.

Putnam Sheriff Donald Smith said the expectations have grown way out of proportion.

"Some people think 287(g) is a magic wand that just will solve all the immigration issues in the United States. And many of these issues are still waiting for public policy at the national level and for resourcing," he said.

He and Rockland Sheriff James Kralik organized an informational meeting last month in Albany for immigration and police officials across the state.

"It (287g) is one program that works in some places, especially areas with large urban or large suburban populations, but there are other successful programs that are out there," Smith said.

Putnam and Rockland describe similar existing procedures with regard to immigration: Their departments will notify ICE if a criminal suspect enters the jail who cannot be identified as a citizen or legal resident. ICE then may order a 48-hour "detainer" under which the person may be held for transfer to federal custody.

"This theory that we're going to arrest our way out of the immigration problem is wrong," White Plains Public Safety Commissioner Frank Straub said in an interview last week, "and I think that it's a federal responsibility to control the borders."

The federal government isn't doing it's job. They don't have control of over the border but it doesn't stop you from arresting drug users. Arresting speeders hasn't "fixed" speeding problems. Prison and the death penalty hasn't stopped murders either......but by God you have to do something to try and control it or we would live in nothing but mass chaos and crime and insanity.