Law enforcement officials back immigration reforms
Facing re-election challenge, Lake County sheriff calls legalization a moral issue

By Antonio Olivo, Tribune reporter

7:37 p.m. CST, February 24, 2010


Joining a growing list of local law enforcement officials across the U.S., Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran on Wednesday urged Congress to adopt federal immigration reforms that would legalize the nation's estimated 10.6 million illegal immigrants.

In an interview with the Tribune and its Spanish-language sister newspaper, Hoy, Curran said processing and holding illegal immigrant inmates has become too costly, in the millions of dollars. A Roman Catholic, Curran added that his position also is based on his personal convictions.

"It's morally the right thing to do," said Curran, said who faces a tight re-election bid in November in a county that has seen a sharp increase in immigrant voters.

His statements come as other law enforcement officials are pressing Congress to do something about an illegal immigrant population they argue is becoming too costly to arrest and process. Roughly 540,000 illegal immigrants lived in Illinois in 2009, according to a recent federal estimate.

On Thursday, Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack will participate with a national group of police chiefs and sheriffs in publicly urging Congress to end a years-long stalemate over the question of legalization.

"The workload that has been placed on local law enforcement … has been difficult for all of us," said Womack, who plans to speak during the group's telephonic news conference in Washington.

Curran's stance contradicts his previous image of being tough on illegal immigration. The former Democrat, who switched to the Republican Party in December, emphasized that he is still in favor of deporting illegal immigrants convicted of murder, rape or other major crimes.

Curran argued that legalization would make it easier for potential witnesses to come forward during police investigations. "They're going to be patriotic Americans," he said.

His comments sparked charges of political grandstanding, with one group in favor of restricting immigration accusing him of pandering to immigrants.

"He's an opportunist," said attorney Douglas Roberts, Curran's Democratic opponent in the November elections. "He's going to have real problems with the Hispanic community."

Curran countered that his new stand is actually a political risk.

"The polling numbers show that I should just keep my mouth shut," he said.

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