Guest Column
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New edict on immigration enforcement
- Homeland Security
tells local police agencies to focus on serious crimes, not minor ones,
in its 287(g) program .
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By Anna Gorman
Local
police agencies empowered by the federal government to enforce immigration
law must focus their efforts on criminals who pose a threat to public
safety, with less emphasis on those who commit minor crimes, Department of
Homeland Security officials announced Friday.
The
announcement aims to clarify a controversial program that deputizes
police to turn over suspects or criminals to immigration authorities for
possible deportation. Normally police do not enforce federal law.
The law,
known as 287(g), took effect in 1996.
Most of the participating
police agencies signed up under President George W. Bush, whose
administration promoted it as a tool against dangerous criminal immigrants.
Immigrant rights groups said it led to civil rights violations and
racial profiling.
Some
police departments check immigration status in a wide variety of crimes.
Friday's directive lays out federal priorities: violent crimes such as rape
or robbery, as well as major drug offenses; followed by property crimes,
such as burglary and fraud.
All 66 police departments that already
participate in the program must sign a new, uniform memorandum within 90
days.
They also must agree to pursue the criminal charges that
prompted an illegal immigrant's detention. In other words, police can't make
an arrest just to find out if someone is in the country illegally.
"This new agreement promotes consistency across the board to make sure that
all of our partner agencies are abiding by the same standards," said
Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler.
The memorandum says that
police agencies will be bound by civil rights laws and subject to oversight
by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as they arrest and detain
illegal immigrants for possible deportation. Any agency that cannot prove
that it is following those standards could lose its federal authority.
In addition to the changes, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
announced that 11 new police agencies have signed agreements, none of them
in
Though some law enforcement agencies, including those
in
There have been congressional
hearings on the program, and the
Government Accountability
Office issued a report this year concluding that immigration authorities
failed to oversee the program or track its effectiveness. The report also
cited inconsistency among the agencies, with some focusing on serious crimes
and others on minor crimes.
A
Police Foundation
report this year said that the costs of 287(g) outweighed the benefits
and that police should be prohibited from arresting and detaining people
solely to investigate their immigration status. The report said the program
hurt public safety because illegal immigrants were afraid to report crimes
for fear of being deported.
Foundation President Hubert Williams said
Friday that he agreed with the emphasis on serious crimes but that he would
be watching closely to see whether the federal government increased its
oversight of the program.
"I think Homeland Security is going in the
right direction," Williams said. "We feel that the 287(g), if properly
directed, could be a useful tool. What we did not want was police officers
going around and checking green cards."
But William Gheen, president
of Americans for Legal Immigration, said the government shouldn't limit the
powers of police.
"To see them backtrack and water down 287(g) shows
they are not serious about immigration enforcement," he said.
Immigrant rights groups said they were surprised that Napolitano did not
make more significant changes to the program.
"What Napolitano is
saying by this expansion is that she is going to subordinate the goals of
keeping communities safe in favor of response to anti-immigrant hysteria,"
said Chris Newman of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in
anna.gorman@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig11-2009jul11,0,3562065.story
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