UT Salt Lake City PD won't enforce immigration law
SLCPD won't enforce immigration law
Law enforcement »Kanab lawmaker fumes as chief says officers won't also be federal agents.
By Cathy Mckitrick
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 04/08/2009 08:05:07 PM MDT
The Salt Lake City Police Department's decision not to participate in a new law that will allow local officers to enforce federal immigration law has infuriated the bill's legislative sponsor.
"I'm worked up about this," said Rep. Mike Noel, House sponsor of SB81, which takes effect July 1. "It's not their choice to decide which laws they enforce."
But under SB81, it is their choice.
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says participation in SB81's immigration enforcement provision is optional and many local police departments are opting out.
"It's clearly voluntary by any law enforcement agency," Shurtleff said. "Most law enforcement agencies are saying, 'No, we have to work with these other people regardless of their immigration status.'"
The Kanab City Police Department, Noel's hometown force, could be among the non-participants.
"From what I know, it's pretty expensive to send someone back to get certified," said Kanab Sgt. Billy Crosby. "Small departments will have a hard time coming up with funds for that."
Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank on Wednesday said there are good reasons why his agency will not participate in cross-deputization with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
"If we start taking action based solely on [immigration] status, we would be making enforcement decisions based on race and ethnicity," Burbank said in interview with The Salt Lake
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The chief worries about the chill that would spread through communities where victims and witnesses of crime would not come forward out of fear of deportation.
In 2008, Noel sponsored SB81 along with then-Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George. But because it was controversial, the effective date was delayed till July 1, 2009. Efforts to block or amend the bill failed in the recent legislative session.
Noel in an interview with KSL-TV Wednesday, hinted at retribution for a defiant Salt Lake City.
"There are ways we can take action against the Salt Lake City Police Department," Noel told KSL. He suggested possibly reducing the amount of jail reimbursement paid by the state.
Later, though, he told The Tribune that he did not control that funding.
Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker issued a statement Wednesday evening backing up Burbank's stance.
"Salt Lake City police officers will not begin to enforce immigration law," Becker said. "Police cannot deter or solve crime if victims and witnesses are afraid to cooperate with the police because they might be deported."
Becker said his office had contacted Noel and the lawmaker did not intend to seek retribution, and "Representative Noel assures me that his intent is not to mandate Salt Lake City police officers enforce federal immigration law."
Hickman, who retired from the state Senate last year, shared Noel's concern about selective enforcement.
"If police organizations pick and choose what laws they want to enforce, pretty soon we're involved in chaos," Hickman said.
The issue is simple, Noel said, and has nothing to do with racial profiling.
"When a person is arrested, the booking entity must determine that person's legal status," Noel said. If here illegally, the entity works with ICE to get the individuals deported.
However, both Noel and Hickman take it a step further.
"Those people who are here illegally have already broken the law," Hickman said. "We have law enforcement agents who we pay to enforce the laws. We expect them to do that."
In St. George -- a fast-growing city in Utah's southwest Washington County -- police are wary of SB81's implications.
"Our stance for years is that we take action based upon conduct, not the color of someone's skin," said Sgt. James Van Fleet. "We will use SB81 to further what we're already doing."
Washington and Weber counties have already cross-deputized some of their sheriffs' deputies to work closely with ICE agents.
"We have two deputies who can assist us and get the deportation process started" -- when someone arrested for a crime is determined to be here illegally, Van Fleet said.
Sen. Jon Greiner, Ogden's police chief, said he is waiting on the memorandum of understanding that SB81 requires Shurtleff to negotiate between federal and local law enforcement agencies. That agreement will define community participation, Greiner said, adding that no involvement remains an option.
Oklahoma enacted a similar law prior to SB81 and that statute is now embroiled in litigation; Utah's could be next, leading to a delay in implementation.
"I've had initial contact with a number of organizations that have said they will be filing a lawsuit," Shurtleff said.
cmckitrick@sltrib.com
Robert Gehrke contributed to this article
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12102282
The law must apply to all or it applies to none.
I wonder how much La Raza and/or the Mexician elites paid those not enforcing the law.
