Thread: Be wary of profiling

Be wary of profiling
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Last updated: Saturday September 5, 2009, 3:58 PM
The Record
1 Comment OVER the past several years, the immigration battles fought in this country have ranged from the political to the procedural.

On the political side, the tactics of some reform opponents have appealed to our society’s worst instincts. Hate-filled talk radio and TV hosts have fed xenophobic notions and, more important, overshadowed debate on the vital issues: workers’ rights and questions regarding citizenship.

Now comes an ever-brewing battle on the procedural side, as more and more local law enforcement officers — in New Jersey and around the country — are signing on as Department of Homeland Security deputies under the program known as 287G. The rule allows local law officers, with training, to act as federal immigration agents. The program has sparked a multitude of complaints from human rights activists and other critics, who see it is as an invitation to the racial profiling of mostly Latino immigrants.

Originally part of a 1996 immigration reform bill, 287G was meant to enlist the aid of local law enforcement authorities to pursue criminals, i.e., those wanted for "violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity …" and other major offenses. In recent years, though, the program has expanded and grown more menacing.

Complaints don’t come just from immigration advocates. Earlier this year, a Government Accounting Office report found that 287G partner agencies were using their newfound authority to process for removal of immigrants who had been stopped for minor offenses, such as speeding or carrying an open container of alcohol.

It is just this sort of misuse and abuse that New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram is rightly concerned about. A carefully worded state directive from her office in 2007 allows immigrant status inquiries only after an arrest for an indictable offense or drunken driving.

Any officer engaging in "racial profiling or in racially influenced policing will be subject to the most severe sanctions, including criminal prosecution," Milgram wrote in a warning letter this week to heads of three local law enforcement units in New Jersey that have joined the 287G program. That includes Monmouth County, whose sheriff Kim Guadagno is the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, and Morristown, where Mayor Donald Cresitello has made the issue of illegal immigration into a personal crusade.

Cresitello and others believe Milgram is overstepping her legal bounds. The law as written is sufficiently unclear and has become subject to dozens of lawsuits across the country.

But police have enough on their plates as it is. Asking patrol officers to take on additional immigration duties is asking too much. Asking them to determine, on the spot, whether a day laborer in Passaic is a hardened criminal or merely an undocumented immigrant standing on the wrong corner is a policy that can only lead to trouble.

Not only is it an added burden to the officers, it is sure to sow fear and more distrust in immigrant communities. It will make witnesses of real crimes less likely to step forward.

The idea of enlisting local officers to implement a failed federal immigration policy underscores Washington’s inability to deal honestly with the issue. It is shortsighted and wrongheaded.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Barack Obama pledged to look closely at immigration reform once in office. His administration can begin by looking at ways to minimize or reform this policy, not to expand it.

OVER the past several years, the immigration battles fought in this country have ranged from the political to the procedural.


CRESITELLO On the political side, the tactics of some reform opponents have appealed to our society’s worst instincts. Hate-filled talk radio and TV hosts have fed xenophobic notions and, more important, overshadowed debate on the vital issues: workers’ rights and questions regarding citizenship.

Now comes an ever-brewing battle on the procedural side, as more and more local law enforcement officers — in New Jersey and around the country — are signing on as Department of Homeland Security deputies under the program known as 287G. The rule allows local law officers, with training, to act as federal immigration agents. The program has sparked a multitude of complaints from human rights activists and other critics, who see it is as an invitation to the racial profiling of mostly Latino immigrants.

Originally part of a 1996 immigration reform bill, 287G was meant to enlist the aid of local law enforcement authorities to pursue criminals, i.e., those wanted for "violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity …" and other major offenses. In recent years, though, the program has expanded and grown more menacing.

Complaints don’t come just from immigration advocates. Earlier this year, a Government Accounting Office report found that 287G partner agencies were using their newfound authority to process for removal of immigrants who had been stopped for minor offenses, such as speeding or carrying an open container of alcohol.


MILGRAM It is just this sort of misuse and abuse that New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram is rightly concerned about. A carefully worded state directive from her office in 2007 allows immigrant status inquiries only after an arrest for an indictable offense or drunken driving.

Any officer engaging in "racial profiling or in racially influenced policing will be subject to the most severe sanctions, including criminal prosecution," Milgram wrote in a warning letter this week to heads of three local law enforcement units in New Jersey that have joined the 287G program. That includes Monmouth County, whose sheriff Kim Guadagno is the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, and Morristown, where Mayor Donald Cresitello has made the issue of illegal immigration into a personal crusade.

Cresitello and others believe Milgram is overstepping her legal bounds. The law as written is sufficiently unclear and has become subject to dozens of lawsuits across the country.

But police have enough on their plates as it is. Asking patrol officers to take on additional immigration duties is asking too much. Asking them to determine, on the spot, whether a day laborer in Passaic is a hardened criminal or merely an undocumented immigrant standing on the wrong corner is a policy that can only lead to trouble.

Not only is it an added burden to the officers, it is sure to sow fear and more distrust in immigrant communities. It will make witnesses of real crimes less likely to step forward.

The idea of enlisting local officers to implement a failed federal immigration policy underscores Washington’s inability to deal honestly with the issue. It is shortsighted and wrongheaded.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Barack Obama pledged to look closely at immigration reform once in office. His administration can begin by looking at ways to minimize or reform this policy, not to expand it.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinion ... iling.html

ratbstard says: Let me ask a 'hateful' question, is being in this country illegally a deportable offense or isn't it? Here's another, what do we tell the families of the victims of major crimes when it is found out that the perpetrator is an illegal alien that has had contact with the law before?

According to the 1996 Immigration Nationality Act, it is a crime to enter the country illegaly, Janet just doesn't get it.

287g was a program for local law enforcement to AID in enforcing the immigration laws they know the federal government can not do alone.. so we would not have a need for another amnesty in the future, which they are now calling for.

NOT enforcing all laws is called "OPEN BORDERS" not racial profiling!!!