Washington State Trooper in Trouble for Helping ICE Find Criminal Alien
by BOB PRICE
18 Feb 2017
Tacoma, WA
563 comments
Officials are questioning a state police trooper in Washington about his role in helping immigration enforcement officers find a wanted criminal alien. The criminal alien has been deported four times and is wanted on a felony warrant.
State Senator Steve O’Ban (R-Tacoma) fired off a letter to Governor Jay Inslee (D) after learning the Washington State Patrol was conducting an administrative review at the behest of the governor. O’Ban expressed “serious concerns” about the review, the Washington Examiner reported Saturday.
The trooper, whose identity has not been released, reportedly contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement about a criminal alien after investigating a traffic collision. The alien, Armando Chavez Corona, was previously convicted on a felony drug charge. Immigration officials deported the convicted felon on four separate occasions between 1996 and 2000. No information about his latest illegal reentry is publically available.
O’Ban claimed the governor was politicizing a matter that should be left to law enforcement. “I’m concerned that this investigation is motivated at least in part by the governor nationalizing this issue, when it shouldn’t be,” he told reporters.
In a written statement obtained by Breitbart Texas, O’Ban stated:
The officer reportedly made contact with ICE officials after a routine driver’s license check revealed a notification request for a felony drug case.
The trooper checked Chavez Corona’s driver’s license after his car was involved in a February 9 accident on Interstate 5. The routine check revealed a notification request for a felony drug case. The trooper confirmed the details with federal immigration officials, who apprehended Corona a few hours later.
“Appropriately, President Obama stated, ‘if you are a criminal, you will be deported,’” O’Ban continued. “Checking on a felony notification of a convicted felon here illegally should not subject a trooper to an administrative investigation. The State Patrol needs to know its officers are going to be supported when they’re doing their job.”
“There is no reason to confuse this public safety issue with the immigration debate happening in the other Washington.” said O’Ban.
The Washington State Patrol disagreed with O’Ban’s assessment of the trooper’s job. “We’re not federal agents, and that’s not our role. Our role is to keep our roadways safe,” State Patrol spokesman Kyle Moore told the Olympian on February 15.
Chavez Corona did not cause the crash, which took place on northbound I-5, just south of 56th Street in Tacoma, Moore said.
The State Patrol’s policy on illegal immigrants puts the state at odds with federal requirements to assist immigration officials. The policy states the agency will not “stop, detain or interrogate or place an immigration hold on any person solely for the purpose of ascertaining immigration status or in any other way attempt to enforce federal immigration laws,” the Olympian reported.
At no time, did the trooper arrest or detain Chavez Corona who was not at fault in the accident. Immigration officials arrived on the scene of the collision and took the criminal alien into custody.
State Patrol Spokesman Moore told reporters the trooper is allowed to inquire about an ICE warning to obtain more information about a person’s criminal history. This action is authorized to provide the law enforcement officer with more safety information about whether he should suspect the individual may be in possession of a weapon or otherwise be dangerous.
The governor’s office confirmed to the Olympian that an administrative review is underway. “The governor takes very seriously the need to make sure all residents of Washington feel safe in their interactions with the men and women in our state Patrol, particularly given the anxiety that many in our state are feeling right now,” Spokesperson Jaime Smith told the local newspaper.
The State of Washington has been designated a sanctuary jurisdiction by the Center for Immigration Studies which compiled a list of 300 such jurisdictions. That list was turned over to then-United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch by U.S. Rep. John Culberson in 2016. The Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General used that list to certify ten jurisdictions as not being compliant with 8 U.S.C. § 1373.
“99 percent is not good enough,” Culberson stated in a December interview with Breitbart Texas. “These jurisdictions must cooperate 100 percent to qualify for these DOJ grants. They must choose between protecting illegal aliens and receiving federal funds.”
Those jurisdictions certified as not being in compliance are:
The State of Connecticut
The State of California
Orleans Parish, Louisiana
New York City
Philadelphia
Cook County, Illinois
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Clark County, Nevada
The DOJ states these jurisdictions received 65 percent of the awards by the OJP in FY2015 through March 2016.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...riminal-alien/
Washington Lawmaker Defends Cop In Hot Water For Reporting Illegal Immigrant To Feds
Posted By Rachel Stoltzfoos On 5:40 PM 02/18/2017
A Washington state senator is demanding to know why a police officer is in hot water for alerting federal immigration authorities of the whereabouts of a previously deported convicted felon.
The officer encountered the illegal immigrant at the scene of an accident, and was completing a routine check on his driver’s license when an alert popped up from Immigration and Customs Enforcement saying the man was a convicted felon and had previously been deported, reports The News Tribune. The trooper contacted ICE to confirm the details, and federal immigration officials came to the scene and detained the man, Armando Chavez Corona. He had not caused the accident.
He had been deported four times between 1996 and 2000, according to ICE officials, and had been convicted on a felony drug charge. A spokesman for the officer said he was not arrested by local authorities or detained at the scene of the accident in order to ensure his arrest by federal officials. Chavez Corona is now awaiting deportation.
The State Patrol, however, launched a review of whether the officer followed an internal policy that instructs police not to go out of their way to help federal immigration officials, such as by stopping or detaining someone solely to determine their immigration status. After Washington state Sen. Steve O’Ban learned of the review, he sent a letter to Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee to express “serious concerns” about the matter. The review is “puzzling, if not deeply concerning,” he wrote to Inslee.
“I fear launching an administrative review of this routine and common-sense procedure sends a chilling message to WSP troopers and to other law enforcement personnel that undermines public safety by discouraging officers from gaining potentially vital information from federal authorities,” he added.
A spokesman for the State Patrol noted the officer has not been disciplined in any way, and stressed the review is routine.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/18/wa...grant-to-feds/
Trooper under investigation for calling ICE to report illegal immigrant
The State Patrol is reviewing whether the trooper followed an internal policy that limits how much troopers can do to help federal immigration officials
Today at 10:14 AM
By Melissa Santos
The News Tribune
TACOMA, Wash. — A Tacoma lawmaker wants to know why the Washington State Patrol is reviewing the actions of a trooper who called federal immigration authorities about a man living in the country illegally.
State Sen. Steve O’Ban, R-Tacoma, sent a letter to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday “to express serious concerns” that an administrative review is underway after a trooper contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about a man involved a Feb. 9 traffic accident on Interstate 5 in Tacoma.
The man, Armando Chavez Corona, was convicted of a felony drug charge and was deported four times from the United States between 1996 and 2000, ICE officials said.
Chavez Corona didn’t cause the crash on I-5. But when a trooper completed a routine check of Chavez Corona’s driver’s license, a warning popped up from ICE, saying Chavez Corona was a previously deported felon and to contact the federal agency for confirmation, said State Patrol spokesman Kyle Moore.
After the trooper contacted federal officials to confirm details of the warning, federal immigration officials came to the crash scene and took Chavez Corona into custody.
As of Wednesday, he was awaiting deportation, ICE officials said.
The State Patrol is reviewing whether the trooper followed an internal policy that limits how much troopers can do to help federal immigration officials.
In his letter Friday, O’Ban called the review into the trooper’s actions “puzzling, if not deeply concerning.”
“I fear launching an administrative review of this routine and common-sense procedure sends a chilling message to WSP troopers and to other law enforcement personnel that undermines public safety by discouraging officers from gaining potentially vital information from federal authorities,” O’Ban wrote.
Moore said administrative reviews are commonplace at the State Patrol. The trooper involved hasn’t been placed on leave or disciplined in any way, he said.
“This is just a routine review of whether this trooper followed our policies,” Moore said Friday.
According to the agency, “The Washington State Patrol has a policy to not stop, detain or interrogate or place an immigration hold on any person solely for the purpose of ascertaining immigration status or in any other way attempt to enforce federal immigration laws.”
Moore said troopers never arrested Chavez Corona or detained him for longer than it took to clear the scene of the accident. The information the trooper received about Chavez Corona did not constitute a warrant calling for his arrest, Moore added.
The governor’s office confirmed it had received O’Ban’s letter but declined to comment on it.
The letter concludes by asking Inslee whether he ordered the review and what specific circumstances warranted that scrutiny. It also asks the governor if it is appropriate for law enforcement officers to ignore a warrant from federal authorities, and “how does that contribute to the public safety or safety of officers?”
In a phone interview Friday, O’Ban said he worries the governor’s office is seizing upon immigration-related incidents in the state to make a political statement. In recent weeks, Inslee has been a vocal critic of the immigration policies promoted by Republican President Donald Trump.
“I’m concerned that this investigation is motivated at least in part by the governor nationalizing this issue, when it shouldn’t be,” O’Ban said.
Meanwhile, Grace Chavez, the U.S.-born wife of Chavez Corona, said she is considering legal action against the State Patrol.
Reached by phone Friday, she said she was heading to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma to visit her husband. The couple has three children, all of whom are U.S. citizens, she said.
“They violated our rights,” Grace Chavez said. “He was the victim of the accident.”
She said she is waiting to hear more details about when her husband is scheduled for deportation.
“I’m hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst,” she said.
https://www.policeone.com/investigat...gal-immigrant/
