http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/2006 ... /101300078

Area officials skeptical of new immigration
Brady McCombs, (Bio) bmccombs@greeleytrib.com
January 30, 2006

Weld County Sheriff John Cooke has become cautiously optimistic when it comes to legislative help with the illegal immigration problem.

He likes the idea behind a new state proposal that would require area law enforcement to send officers to a training program that would authorize them to detain people suspected of an immigration offense. In the end, though, he doesn't think it would change much.

"If we stop someone who is an illegal alien on the street, what are we going to do with them?" Cooke said. "ICE isn't going to deport somebody just for being illegal on the street. I don't see what this bill accomplishes."

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, and 20 other legislators, is one of six bills that has been introduced in the state legislature. All aim to make Colorado less friendly to illegal immigrants.

Weld District Attorney Ken Buck and Rep. Dale Hall, R-Greeley, share Cooke's assessment of the bill. If area officers are detaining more illegal immigrants, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will need more agents to pick them up, more beds in the detention center in Aurora and more buses and planes to deport them, Buck said.

"You can have all the legislation on the state side, but if the feds don't accept them, there's nothing," Buck said. "All that is going to take resources on the federal side."

Furthermore, the district attorney and sheriff's offices say they don't need a state mandate to send officers to the ICE training program, called Section 287(G).

Both have started researching the program. The DA's office is considering budgeting for a new investigator who would be sent to the five-week training course. Cooke said he would like to send jail booking officers but has heard about a waiting list for the program.

"There is already this opportunity to do this with ICE, so really all this legislation is acknowledging is something that is already available," Buck said.

But ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said that the bill would probably help get officers into the training program. ICE has trained 62 law enforcement agents in Florida and 21 in Alabama, states that approved similar mandates to one being proposed in Colorado.

ICE said it plans to train 25 more officers from Alabama and six L.A. County jail custody assistants this year.

Sylvia Martinez, a member of Latinos Unidos, and Kim Salinas of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, oppose the bill because they believe it would have unintended side effects.

First, they said illegal immigrants would be less likely to report crimes and call law enforcement for help out of fear of being deported. Secondly, it could create a climate that fosters racial profiling.

"We are for immigration reform and for implementation of laws, but we need to stop and think about the effects on minorities like Latinos," Martinez said.

Salinas added that using state resources to solve a federal issue is a misuse of limited resources.

Cooke and Buck understand that the proposed legislation comes from frustration about a lack of federal solutions to the porous U.S. borders and the estimated 10.3 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Nonetheless, they think state mandates are hollow without federal backing.

"I think that state legislators around the country are saying that the federal government isn't doing its job so we're going to do something," Cooke said. "Unfortunately, if we don't get the federal government on board, it's an effort in futility."

What House Bill 1134 says:

Would require police chiefs, sheriffs and governing bodies such as city councils to establish a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to train and subsequently authorize law enforcement officers in Colorado to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain a person suspected of an immigration offense when the law enforcement officer encounters the person during routine law-enforcement activity.

To read more, go to www.leg.state.co.us and look for House bill 1134

ICE 287(G) training program

The program is designed to increase ICE forces by training and authorizing local and state law enforcement officers to identify, process or even detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.

To participate:

1) Local law enforcement agencies must enter into an agreement called a memorandum of understanding with ICE.

2) Agency sends officers to a five-week training that will cover immigration law, civil rights, intercultural relations, and the issues and legalities surrounding racial profiling. The local law enforcement agency is responsible for all travel costs and salaries.

3) The trained officers must work under the supervision of ICE agents.

Source: Carl Rusnok, ICE spokesman