Thread: WI: Dane County Officials Discuss Reporting Of Illegal Immig

Dane County Officials Discuss Reporting Of Illegal Immigrants
Sherriff: Authorities Following Federal Law

UPDATED: 9:20 pm CST February 25, 2008


MADISON, Wis. -- There was standing room only in a small room in the City County Building on Monday as dozens of people and Dane County officials met to discuss concerns surrounding recent deportations of illegal immigrants detained by authorities.

Dane County Supervisor Ashok Kumar, who represents the 5th District, called a Public Protection and Judiciary Committee public hearing to talk about the issue at the request of the Immigrant Workers Union, WISC-TV reported.

The questions were raised because since January 2007, an increasing number of illegal immigrants have been deported after being detained by the Dane County Sheriff's Department.

Kumar said that the purpose of the hearing was to learn more about what's happening.

"Is there any discrimination in who is being reported? Who is being asked about immigration status and who is not?" Kumar said. "There have been a lot of reports about this. We just want to clear that up. This is just an open-ended public hearing where people can come, testify to what's happened to them or their family members, or what they know about. And the sheriff can respond."

In front of a packed room, Sheriff Dave Mahoney defended his practice of notifying federal immigration agents of jail inmates who aren't in the country legally.

Dozens of people then took turns either backing or opposing the sheriff's department policy to cooperate with a Homeland Security unit called Immigrations and Customs Enforcement or ICE.

Mahoney told the committee that last year 286 jail inmates were turned over to ICE and that the county wound up putting a hold on 61 of them.

"I don't believe that it's good public policy for any law enforcement agency not to cooperate with another," said Mahoney.

But some believe Mahoney is helping tear down the trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities.

"Nobody can report to jail to do a sentence because they're deathly afraid of being deported," said Anthony Delyea, Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. "It doesn't matter if they report for operating after revocation or murder because ICE picks up as many people as they can."

One criminal defense attorney told WISC-TV that undocumented immigrants are now requesting trials and avoiding plea bargains to avoid ultimate deportation.

He warns that those requests will back up the courts at a huge taxpayer expense.

Some speaking at the meeting said they believed it was wrong to turn over people for what is a civil violation, not a criminal violation; others said the issue was one of human rights.

Others disagreed and said that if immigrants are in the U.S. illegally, they should be prepared to be arrested and deported.

www.channel3000.com

Scores speak out on deportation after jail
Pat Schneider — 2/26/2008 9:31 am

"It is a secret that is screaming," Rosalba Rodriguez on Monday told a stifling room packed for a hearing on the deportation of undocumented Latinos from the Dane County Jail.

Rodriguez, speaking through an interpreter, said that her brother was deported after being advised to plead to a minor crime and serve jail time. He was, she said, deceived about what would happen to him.

Dane County Supervisor Ashok Kumar, District 5, called the hearing before the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee of the County Board because of growing concern over a rising number of undocumented immigrants, mostly Latino, who apparently are being deported by federal authorities after they complete their sentences in the Dane County Jail.

Scores of people from among the more than 100 gathered spoke passionately of the need to change jail policy of reporting undocumented inmates to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. A few urged Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney to continue the practice.

Kumar challenged Mahoney to explain why the jail notifies ICE -- in apparent violation of county ordinance -- when no law requires the notification.

Jail authorities say they do not know how many of the 61 inmates on which ICE placed detention holds last year were ultimately deported because the jail does not keep track of which agency picks up inmates.

But the jail will "try" to begin to keep such statistics, Mahoney said in an interview Monday.

"It will take additional resources, because it will have to be done by hand," Mahoney said.

The Capital Times had asked Mahoney to start tracking the number of inmates released to ICE so that a clearer picture would emerge of the phenomenon rattling immigrant communities and alarming some in the criminal justice system.

"The police and the government say this is not happening, I am here to tell you this is a reality," Rodriguez told county board members, who held the hearing in a former courtroom undergoing renovation, with exposed broken blocks of concrete and metal conduits littering the floor.

ICE will not provide statistics on the number of immigrants taken from the Dane County Jail and deported, but with a 20 percent statewide increase in personnel over the past two years, 500 deportation proceedings were initiated on undocumented immigrants seized in Wisconsin last year, compared to 200 to 300 in the previous year, according to a spokesman.

Mahoney said he notifies ICE "because it is good policy for law enforcement agencies to work together, irrespective of personal beliefs."

He said that incoming inmates are asked about immigration status in the first place because federal law requires notification of several foreign consulates, as well as Mexico's request it be notified.

Law student Laurie Mlatawou referred to the Dane County Board Privacy Policy, which states that law enforcement officers will not ask about immigration status unless it is relevant to an investigation. Being in the United States without proper immigration documentation is a violation of civil law -- not the criminal law which it is the Sheriff's job to uphold, she said.

Cheryl Learn of Stoughton said the sheriff should report undocumented inmates to ICE. "This is not about nationality. The issue is that you are here illegally," she said, expressing her surprise that some people seem to think that's all right.

Bill Richardson of Middleton said that if Mahoney didn't report undocumented inmates, it would be a violation of his oath of office. "We are at war with the Islamofacsists who want to make sure all non-Muslims are deported, conquered or killed," he said.

Terese Tellez-Giron, a Dane County social worker, said the practice of reporting undocumented immigrants to ICE threatens years of good relations between immigrant communities and law enforcement authorities.

"If you don't stop working with ICE, you will lose the community trust," she said. The plight of children left in Dane County when a parent is deported also must be addressed, she said. "The community needs to protect them."

Criminal defense attorney Jessa Lutz said there is widespread concern in the judicial system, because the Sheriff Department's practice is forcing attorneys to recommend that their clients go to trial, in cases that previously would have been pled, to avoid conviction -- and likely deportation -- at any cost.

The increase in cases going to trial "will grind the system to a halt," Lutz said. "And it will be really expensive."

Marc Rosenthal urged county officials to remember that their actions take place in the context of the national climate and a "campaign terrifying in its deionization of immigrants."

"We need to take every opportunity to say we will not participate," Rosenthal said.

Mahoney has agreed to meet monthly with representatives of local immigrant communities to discuss the policy and on Monday promised review.

Kumar stressed today that the chief law enforcement officer of the county must follow Dane County law. If the practice isn't changed, he promised action would be taken.



Pat Schneider — 2/26/2008 9:31 am
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/274298

Another sanctuary town....they should take the names of the all people who want illegals here so as the economy keeps taking a dive these people can be the first to give their job up to an illegal.


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