| More of the same on immigration |
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| Written by Mark Nichols |
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Several big-city police chiefs recently urged Congress to develop a new policy that they say will improve public safety by bringing illegal immigrants out of the shadows. Unlike their rural counterparts in sheriff's offices and departments across the nation, big-city chiefs by and large say that enforcing federal immigration law distracts from the public safety mission by driving immigrants underground and making them reluctant to report crimes or work with the police. "We're in the business of delivering a police service whether the person has had a car accident, been a victim of a crime, or been a witness to a crime," Chief John Timoney of the Miami Police Department told The New York Times. Timoney echoes the sentiments of other urban top cops that immigrants need to feel that they can come forward without fearing "that they are going to wind up being reported to federal authorities and deported." Chief Timoney, Chief Art Acevedo of the Austin Police Department in Texas and former Chief Art Venegas of the Sacramento Police Department told congressional leaders that local law enforcement had been undermined by the blurred line between crimes and violations of immigration law, which are civil. Those who call illegal immigrants "criminals," the chiefs said during a news conference are misreading the law and hurting their own communities by scaring neighbors who could identify criminals. Many of the top cops say that they're trying to restore a reasonable tone to an emotionally charged debate about how to handle illegal immigration. "When you remove the emotion from the debate," Chief Acevedo said, "no one can argue that it is in the best interest of public safety to keep these people living in the shadows." Unlike some elected sheriffs like Maricopa County's Joe Arpaio who have enthusiastically embrace the idea of rounding up illegal immigrants, the big city chiefs say the so-called "round-ups" are largely designed for political gain as opposed to crime reduction. There are currently about 63 police departments operating under the 287G agreement with Homeland Security that allows officers to be trained in immigration enforcement. The urban chiefs say they are encouraged by new Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano's recent announcement that DHS will focus more on employers and illegal immigrants that have committed violent crimes. "It's a matter of resources and priority," said Chief Acevedo, who was born in Cuba and oversees a department of 2,100 officers. "My priority is dealing with criminals and terrorism issues, not dealing with civil matters." But the big city top cops are at odds with many of their own personnel and conservative groups like the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tougher immigration enforcement. Jessica M. Vaughan, a senior policy analyst with that organization says that the chiefs are "misguided." Vaughan says immigrants are less likely to report crimes because of language barriers and a lack of understanding about American law. "None of this is related to fear of deportation," she told the New York Times in a recent interview. But Miami's Chief Timoney said that kind of argument, which works great as a sound bite doesn't really hold water. "The problem for us is they don't discern between federal authorities and local authorities," Chief Timoney said. "As far as they're concerned it's all law enforcement." That makes it pretty tough to find a witness to a crime in areas with large immigrant populations. subscribeAdd this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          Comments (2)
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Now is the time to address this pressing humanitarian issue which affects so many lives and undermines basic human dignity. Our society should no longer tolerate a status quo that perpetuates a permanent underclass of persons and benefits from their labor without offering them legal protections.