Thread: Waukegan excop: deportation is not 'Spanish or Mexican thing

Waukegan Ex-cop: Deportation is not 'Spanish or Mexican thing'
(http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article)

July 18, 2007

By FRANK ABDERHOLDEN fabderholden@scn1.com

WAUKEGAN -- We are now deporting from gate 287(g) -- expect some turbulence.

But according to one retired Waukegan policeman, we are not flying a new airplane when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants who have violated various statutes here or anywhere else in the nation.

Richard Slusser worked with the Waukegan Police Department Gang Suppression Unit for two years and the Lake County Repeat Offender Program for four before he retired in 2000. He, along with other officers, worked with law enforcement immigration officials regularly to arrest, convict and deport offenders.

He remembers working with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (which is now ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents and their gang unit. They would work the street together.

Slusser had the authority to pull over the vehicle on a traffic stop, which the immigration official did not. Once pulled over, Slusser couldn't ask for a green card, but the immigration official could.

Before deportation could begin, offenders would have to serve their time. Then sometimes to help out, he would pick up certified copies of the conviction, and immigration officials would come to Waukegan and pick them up for use at the deportation hearing. During his time on the force there was a hot line to the immigration office to determine if someone was legal or illegal.

"It's a pretty long process. Remember, they have to serve their time first," said Slusser. "I think they're riling up people for nothing at all.

"The investigations we worked on collectively were to target career criminals and individuals with felony records," he said. "We never took illegal immigrants off the streets on traffic stops or kicked in doors of their houses to arrest them for being here illegally.

"I do not remember the numbers, but, yes, I was involved in some deportations with illegal immigrants," Slusser said. Those included two cases in which young men from India and the Philippines were deported because of gang activities.

"It's (deportation) not just a Spanish or Mexican thing," he said.

Slusser was under the impression that Waukegan police do not have access to the ICE data base, and having it would be a good thing for the department. Chief William Biang said that under the 287(g) program the department would receive access to the federal data base.

Officers will be trained by ICE. Ernistine Fobbe, an ICE public affairs officer in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that basically 287(g) is like ICE having an off-site partnership with the local police department.

"They will be trained to identify individuals (who are illegal) and bring them to our attention," she said. "We're not going to know about each and every person."

Fobbe said deportation does not begin until after an offenders have served their sentences. That person goes before an immigration judge who is part of the Department of Justice's Executive Office of Immigration Review, which is independent of ICE, she said.

Some offenders will come in and say they are guilty of being here illegally, and they are sent on the next available Justice Department Prison Alien Transporting System plane back to their country of origin after proper travel documents have been obtained.

The offender can ask for a hearing, and because it is a judicial system, appeal the verdict all the way to the Supreme Court.

The offender can ask for a hearing, and because it is a judicial system, appeal the verdict all the way to the Supreme Court.

And herein lies the problem. Once it has been proven that the criminal is an illegal alien...ALL appeals must stop and he MUST be deported.

One question I want our elected officials to answer is this: Mexico does not allow immigration hearings from illegals captured in Mexico. Mexico is allowed to skip this process and go straight to deportation. Why then do we have to have this procedure?
Another waste of taxpayers dollars.