Police may get immigration law duty
Bill would require local enforcement
By Rasheed Oluwa
Poughkeepsie Journal
Monday, March 22, 2004
Local law enforcement officials may have to add another line to their job descriptions. Immigration officers.
A bill pending in the House of Representatives would give state and local police the ability to enforce immigration law. At the same time, it would require those agencies to develop policies for enforcing immigration laws and for cooperating with the federal government on these cases.
The Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2003, or Clear Act, also requires state and local agencies to report any illegal immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security. The required information would include the person's name, physical description, fingerprints and photos, if available, and the reason the person was arrested or detained.
Agencies that do not meet these mandates would not be able to seek federal funds to cover the cost of housing illegal immigrants incarcerated for other crimes.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., the sponsor of the House bill, said the legislation is needed because federal immigration agents are too overwhelmed to deal with the problems themselves.
''Sending 2,000 federal agents into the field to find 80,000 criminal aliens is like trying to stop a tidal wave with hand towels -- it's a farce, it doesn't work, and the out-manned folks at the ICE (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) are simply drowning,'' Norwood said in a statement.
There is a similar bill in the Senate, the Homeland Security Enhancement Act. To date, 118 representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of the House bill, including U.S. Rep. Sue Kelly, R-Katonah.
However, several national and local groups have reservations about the legislation.
Marilyn Ventrano, head of the Dutchess County Human Rights Commission, said the legislation could make ''suspects'' of many people.
''The perception that a person looks foreign and could be an illegal resident could possibly increase ethnic and racial profiling,'' she said. ''The major concern is what this act is going to do to police/community relations.''
Deputy Chief Michael Ferrara of the Newburgh police said there are more than 40 different groups of undocumented residents in the city, including Haitians, Russians, Puerto Ricans and Asians.
The department has invested a lot of time trying to open lines of communication in the immigrant community, he said.
''A lot of them come from countries where they would try to avoid the authorities to begin with,'' he said. ''We've been trying to establish that relationship with them on a continuous basis for years. I don't know what the results would be (if the Clear Act passed).''
Richard Rivera of Latinos Unidos of the Hudson Valley, a local Hispanic advocacy group that provides education, housing, economic and immigration services, agreed.
''We're currently working with our local police officers to work with the community,'' he said. ''This legislation, the way it is written now, is going to have the opposite effect.''
Immigrants who are victims or witnesses to a crime would be reluctant to report any incidents to police, Rivera said.
''You're going to wind up breaking the law, one way or the other,'' he said. ''There's no clear answer to what you can tell the community except that they have to make their own decision and deal with their own consciences.''
In addition to any rifts the law could cause in the community, Poughkeepsie city police Chief Ron Knapp had another concern.
Custody is also an issue
''I think the bigger issue is going to be who is going to have custody of the person,'' he said. ''One of the things that has stood in the way of deportation is that there is no room to house the people who are taken into custody. Unless this act addresses the problems that existed all along, then the Clear Act isn't too clear right now.''
Illegal immigrants could spend more time in jail. The House bill would increase possible jail time from six months to one year for the first offense.
To help state and local law enforcement acclimate to immigration law, the bill authorizes the U.S. attorney general to administer $1 billion per year in grants that state and local law enforcement agencies could seek to cover the cost of ''equipment, technology, facilities, and other products directly related to housing and processing illegal aliens in custody for immigration law violations.''
The grants would be on top of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which provides funds to state and local governments for the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants that have committed other crimes.
Gary Christensen, an assistant corrections administrator at the Dutchess County Jail, said the number of undocumented aliens in the jail is low.
But, he added, it wouldn't take much to affect the population at the jail. Even if the federal government were to reimburse the county, there would still be issues with space.
''Any small influx would have a large impact,'' Christensen said. ''If 25 people came in one day, it would have an effect.''
Crime Beat, which explores law enforcement issues and cases worked by police in the mid-Hudson Valley, appears each Monday. To suggest a topic, call 845-437-4834.
poughkeepsiejournal.com
steve |
