BCPD, immigrants try to build trust

Robert Warner • The Enquirer • August 28, 2008


More than 50 local Latinos met with Battle Creek police Wednesday evening, seeking assurances that minor brushes with the law won't lead to their deportation as illegal immigrants.


Chief David Headings and two Hispanic officers, Leonardo and Angel Rivera, told the crowd minor infractions such as speeding won't lead officers to ask a motorist's immigration status.

But in criminal cases, including driving without an operator's license, suspects are arrested. And when they're booked into the Calhoun County Jail, they will be asked whether they're in the United States legally.

Wednesday's meeting at St. Joseph School was arranged by the Joint Religious Organizing Network for Action and Hope, or JONAH, and the Latino/Hispanic Community Project.

The meeting was held in Spanish; English translations were provided by Kate Kennedy and Pablo Naumann of the Latino Project.

Headings was asked about rumors that police have worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to round up suspected illegal immigrants.

"We've never partnered with them," Headings said. "When they come to town they don't tell us and they don't ask us for any assistance."

Another question was whether it was legal to refuse to answer a police officer's question about immigration status.

"If we ask your status and you happen to be an illegal alien, there's nothing we can do about it, so we don't even ask," Headings said.

And the group asked whether Headings and the other officers would support a soon-to-be-proposed city ordinance that would ban the use of profiling techniques in law enforcement and bar officers from asking about immigrant status in all but criminal matters.

Headings and both Riveras took a wait-and-see stance on the issue, with Headings saying he wanted to see the final proposal before he endorsed it.

Headings encouraged the crowd to report any allegations of unfair treatment by police, either through standard channels at the police station or through Kennedy, coordinator of the Latino Project at the Fieldstone Center.

"I know that we have to work on this trust between us," Headings said. "It bothers me that a lot of Latinos are victims of crime and don't report it or are witnesses to crimes and don't report it.

"I would like you to try it and to trust us ... and then see if we don't hold up our end of the bargain."

Jesus Grillo, one of the organizers of the event, said he was pleased by the trust-building exercise.

Robert Warner can be reached at 966-0674 or rwarner@battlecr.gannett.com.

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