Thread: Danbury police chief meets with immigrant community leaders

Danbury police chief meets with immigrant community leaders
Fears of ICE plan discussed
By John Pirro staff writer
Article Last Updated: 02/12/2008 01:21:02 PM EST


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Celia Bacelar, director of The Tribuna newspaper, addresses her concerns in regard to the ICE...
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DANBURY -- For Danbury police, the partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn't really new. It merely formalizes a relationship that has existed for years, Chief Alan Baker said.

But for the city's immigrant population, many who are in the country illegally or who have not completed the process of becoming legal residents, the plan adopted by the Common Council last week is a reason for concern, according to community leaders.

"People are afraid they are going to be stopped for a traffic violation, the officer is going to see they are illegal, and they are going to get deported," said Silas Avila Jr., editor of Palavra, a Danbury-based Brazilian magazine that circulates in the tri-state area.

"People are scared," agreed Gus Camara, treasurer of the Revival Church on Main Street. "They are saying they want to move to Waterbury or Bridgeport, or back to Brazil."

In an effort to calm some of those fears, Baker met Monday with religious and business leaders. He wanted to clarify some of the misconceptions that have surrounded the program under which two Danbury detectives will be trained to work with immigration officials.

"The focus of the program is to catch criminals -- specific kinds of criminals," Baker said. "Danbury police are not going to be doing sweeps at Kennedy Park or go door-to-door to checking (immigration) documents."

For police, the 287(g) program, as it is known, "formalizes what has been a practice for many years," much like the


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department's relationships with other federal law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI and the DEA, the chief said.
The detectives will be working with ICE to investigate human trafficking, narcotics smuggling, gang and organized crime activity, money laundering and sex crimes, Baker said.

"I don't think you will notice a big change in the day-to-day activities of the Danbury Police Department when ICE comes to Danbury," he said.

But that's not the perception of many of those who attended the forum, sponsored by Tribuna newspaper and held at the Christian Community Church on Main Street.

Representatives of many of the 11 immigrant churches in Danbury were there, along with other business and community leaders.

"There are rumors that police will be going to the high school," said Renata Amaral, whose insurance agency represents thousands of immigrant clients. People are concerned that if a young person who is undocumented gets into trouble, police will start asking questions about his parents' immigration status.

Others are worried that if a person is deported for being in the country illegally, the government will seize his property, further feeding the pressure to round up undocumented immigrants, Amaral said.

Baker acknowledged ICE is under political pressure to improve its performance and remove more people who've come to the country illegally. Likewise, he said, his department must deal with demands from the public to enforce the law.

What is a problem for undocumented immigrants, Baker said, is that ICE has entered the names of 600,000 illegal aliens in the National Criminal Information System, the electronic database that police routinely check when someone is arrested for a crime or cited for a traffic violation.

If a person's name shows up, meaning there is an outstanding warrant for his arrest, local police are duty-bound to take him into custody and turn him over to the agency holding the warrant.

The best advice the leaders could take back to their community, the chief said, is not to break the law.

"If you do something that draws the attention of a police officer, your name is going to be run through the system, and if ICE has a detainer, you are going to be turned over to them," he said.

But that doesn't mean police will ask people stopped for routine traffic violations about their immigration status, or that Danbury officers will asking crime victims whether they are in the country legally or illegally, Baker said.

"The cop on the beat isn't going to care if they are here illegally. They are going to be concerned if their name pops up in the system."

http://www.newstimes.com/ci_8238968?source=most_emailed

Yes invite them to a meeting calm them down then
Arrest them as they go out and deport them all.
Please come to our meeting

BOO HOO!!!!!!!!! Maybe they should stop driving.

Originally Posted by akhope

Yes invite them to a meeting calm them down then
Arrest them as they go out and deport them all.
Please come to our meeting

send them to Tent City

"People are afraid they are going to be stopped for a traffic violation, the officer is going to see they are illegal, and they are going to get deported," said Silas Avila Jr., editor of Palavra, a Danbury-based Brazilian magazine that circulates in the tri-state area. "

What is happening?? Of course they should be deported if found esp. while violating yet another law.

If Rip Van Winkle were here, he would say:
While I was asleep for 20 years, did someone remove the attribute of courage from American society?? Are there no elected officials with the spirit to uphold our country's laws and sovereignty.
I better go back to sleep for another 20 years.

Any American citizen has the right to report an illegal immigrant.

ICE unlikely here — Danbury commits to immigration training for cops, advocates weigh in

Feb 13, 2008

By BEN LEVINE
STAMFORD — With Danbury's recent approval to allow police to enforce federal immigration laws, local advocacy groups have begun to ban together in an effort to inform Stamford's immigrant population about their rights, and offer resources of assistance.

"I think that what (Danbury) is doing is terrible. I think it's unfair," said Carolina Osorio, public relations officer for the Hispanic Advisory Council of Greater Stamford.

Osorio is also a member of the Southwestern Connecticut Action Group, a recently formed organization dedicated to working for the rights of undocumented immigrants in southwestern Connecticut. She believes the recent events in Danbury are rooted in a lack of education and misconceptions about undocumented immigrants.

"There is still a lot of prejudice surrounding the immigrant population, and many still have the wrong ideas about them," Osorio said. "They are not taking away jobs and state assistance. They are here to work; they are here to support the state's economy."

Danbury is the first city in the state to participate in the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program. ICE has close to 40 programs throughout the country and has trained more than 630 officers.
The training of Stamford police to enforce federal immigration laws is not something that the city's police department is considering at the present time, according to Lt. Sean Cooney, a police spokesman.

"We do have a sizable immigrant population here in Stamford, and I'm sure we have our share of illegal immigrants like any other city," Cooney said. "Any consideration for training of our officers would be a political one."

Paul Streitz, who is part of the CT Citizens for Immigration Control (CTCIC), believes the measures taken in Danbury are a good thing for Connecticut, and he would like to see Stamford take similar steps.

"It makes the removal of illegal aliens with criminal records or who are subject to deportation orders easier (to pursue)," Streitz said. "But, there is not really any solution to removing illegal aliens that have not committed crimes. (CTCIC) has always recommended attrition through enforcement of employment laws. When the jobs dry up, the illegals will go home."

Streitz said Stamford does not have as much a problem with undocumented immigrants as Danbury, and said many who work in the city live in Port Chester. Streitz believes there are three negatives to undocumented immigration and massive legal immigration: ecological/demographic, economic, and political.

"They strain the ability of society to sustain population growth. Illegal immigration is basically a criminal racket run by employers and landlords to profit off low-wage illegals," Streitz said. " In the southwest, Mexican illegals are demanding (southwestern) states be returned to Mexico under their demographic invasion called Reconquista. They believe these states are part of a greater Mexico called Aztlan. When the illegals fly the Mexican flag, they mean it."

Streitz's sentiment is one many Americans share, but one that Osorio believes is misguided. She said when undocumented immigrants march, or wave their country's flag, they are not doing so in an attempt to make America more Latino, but rather, for their personal dignity.

"Undocumented immigrants, and immigrants in general deserve to be looked at as people, with rights, not just as an alien," Osorio said. "We're calling on community immigrants to join our new initiative so they know their rights; we want them to know there are available resources to support them."

The Southwestern Connecticut Action Group is holding a meeting on Feb. 21, at the Yerwood Center in Stamford at 6 p.m..

According to U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 Community Survey, 19.7 percent of the city's population is Hispanic or Latino — compared to 14.8 percent nationwide. Osorio said that in 2006, several ICE raids took place in Stamford, putting the city's immigration community into state of fear, and she does not believe it would be beneficial for the city to train officers.

"Stamford is such a diverse community and there is a large undocumented community. It's so diverse in Stamford that if (police officers were trained to enforce federal immigration laws) I believe it would become a ghost town," Osorio said. "(Undocumented immigrants) are here to make the country better."

www.thestamfordtimes.com

ICE should be at the meeting in Yerwood...arrest them all.