Mexican Consulate criticizes sheriff's role in arrests

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times
Thursday, April 20, 2006

The immigration raid that found 26 undocumented immigrants at a far East quarry Monday was conducted by El Paso sheriff's deputies, prompting officials at the Mexican Consulate in El Paso to complain that the agency has been overstepping its duties.

Consulate spokeswoman Socorro Cordova said her office has talked to Sheriff Leo Samaniego on two occasions, asking him not to intervene in immigration matters.

"It's the sixth incident, counting the raids on hotels and motels," she said, referring to the detention last month of 57 undocumented immigrants in Downtown hotels. In February, the Sheriff's Office boasted the arrest of 229 undocumented immigrants at motels in the county and at other locations.

Monday, 26 undocumented immigrants were found working at Soto Rock Hauling, a small quarry in a desert area near Gas Line Road. The quarry's owners, brothers Romulado Soto, 53, and Jose Cruz Soto, 41, both U.S. citizens, had their initial court appearance Wednesday and were charged with harboring undocumented immigrants.

Critics have said that police should not enforce immigration laws.

"It's not a criminal matter; it's a labor issue. These people (immigrants) are not criminals," Cordova said, adding that her office had yet to decide on an official response.

Rick Glancey, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, defended the office, saying the raids were welfare checks, not immigration checks.

"When we have information about possible welfare violations -- people not being fed, clothed and not having the opportunity to take a bath for some time, possibly held against their will -- do you want us not to do anything about it?" he said. "We get calls about people that have been abandoned."

In Monday's raid, sheriff's officers at a temporary checkpoint stopped a car on far East Montana and Hueco Tanks and interviewed the five occupants, who were undocumented immigrants and who told them about the Soto quarry. Officers raided the quarry and found 26 other undocumented Mexican men living in small sheds they had built out of wood and other materials on the property, sheriff's officials said.

Officials of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the dwellings had no electricity or running water and described the living conditions as "horrible." Sheriff's officials said the workers appeared healthy and unharmed.

The Border Patrol and ICE were called later and did not participate in the raid, officials from those agencies said.

Critics said that blurring the line between criminal and immigration investigations risks scaring some crime victims away from calling the police for help.

"If they (sheriff's officials) want to do joint operations with the Border Patrol, that's fine," Cordova said. "But in most of these cases, they arrive before the Border Patrol."

Sheriff's officials said the raid was well under their "Operation Linebacker" mandate. The operation put more officers on patrol on the border, thanks to a state grant that pays for overtime. The operation gives the officers no new arrest powers and officers cannot arrest people for immigration violations. But officials said they can turn over the suspected undocumented immigrants they encounter during normal patrol to the Border Patrol.

Gov. Rick Perry's spokeswoman, Rachael Novier, said El Paso County Sheriff's Office officials did not notify the governor about the incident Monday.

While the state provides funding for border security operations under Operation Linebacker, Novier said, immigration enforcement remains a federal responsibility.

"But it is our understanding that the El Paso County Sheriff's Office routinely works with federal officers to protect vulnerable individuals," she said.

A proposal by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would give border sheriffs federal money to help the Border Patrol and other federal agencies enforce immigration laws.

The collaboration is already allowed by Section 287(g) of the 1996 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act, in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement can provide state and local law enforcement with authorization to detain undocumented immigrants they encounter during their normal patrols. The bill would provide compensation for the work.

The Senate is expected to resume debate on immigration reform next week.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.

El Paso Times reporter Brandi Grissom contributed to this story.