Lodi City Council interested in federal immigration law

Lodi City Council members expressed interest this week in an aspect of federal immigration law that allows local police to detain individuals who are in the United States illegally.

The provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act has existed since 1996 but was not used until after Sept. 11, 2001, when Florida state police discovered that 9-11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had numerous run-ins with police in Florida but was never identified as having overstayed his visa.

Now, after the arrest of an criminal illegal alien in connection with the attempted rape of a Lodi woman, council members say they want to hear more about that portion of the law, which can give local cops the training and authority to identify, process and detain immigration offenders they encounter during the course of daily police work.

"Anything we can do to make the community safer is going to be a positive step," Mayor Susan Hitchcock said. "It sounds like we should take a look at it."

Efforts to identify illegal aliens, even criminal offenders, vary widely across the country. In San Joaquin County, there is no coordinated policy to spot illegal offenders and deport them. While federal law allows local agencies to be more aggressive in pursuing and deporting aliens, some are strongly opposed to such an expansion. They believe a more forceful role only creates distrust among immigrant communities and ties local police up in immigration red tape.

Earlier this month, police arrested Victor Hugo Vazquez, a Mexican national in the United States illegally, after he allegedly broke into a Lodi home and was about to rape a young mother inside. Though Vazquez had been arrested for driving under the influence and possession of drugs, it took the attempted rape charge for authorities to learn he was in the country illegally. In Lodi, checking the immigration status of criminal suspects is left to the discretion of the arresting officer or supervisor.

Councilman John Beckman said local police should not be searching solely for illegal immigrants. "But if they do in the course of their duties find an illegal alien, turning them over to immigration authorities is absolutely something they should be doing."

Jose Rodriguez, executive director of the social service agency El Concilio — Council for the Spanish Speaking, said he feared that having police take on greater immigration authority could prompt crime victims and witnesses to stay away from police.

"That would send a chilling message to the community that people who are undocumented should not have contact with police," he said. "I think this would put distance between them and law enforcement to solve crimes or report crimes."

Councilman Larry Hansen, Lodi's police chief until six years ago, expressed concern that lax enforcement at the border would allow criminal aliens to return to the United States no matter how many times they are deported.

"I would want it to be something that if the council went for it, it would mean something," he said.

By the numbers: Deportations of criminal aliens

Fiscal year 2006: 35,355

Fiscal year 2005: 80,645

Fiscal year 2004: 86,047

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce sought more information on the issue, mainly on effectiveness, ramifications to citizens, and costs.

"I'd like to talk about it and see if it's something that can help us," she said, adding that the police department should first review and offer a recommendation on such a move.

Lodi police have the ability to check a person's immigration status through the National Crime Information Center, and can notify immigration authorities when they find that someone who may be in the country illegally, Lodi Police Chief Jerry Adams said.

Officers currently do not seek out illegal aliens. When officers encounter someone here illegally, the decision to notify ICE is left to the arresting officer or their supervisor, Adams said.

"They make that determination on a case by case basis," he said.

To take on greater authority, the city would first have to enter into an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would outline the specific authority given to local police. A group of officers would go through a five-week training course on immigration law, civil rights, intercultural relations, and issues of racial profiling.

After certification, the officers are granted special immigration enforcement authorities under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Those officers are then able to question and detain an individual for possible deportation by ICE. All decisions by local police are reviewed by ICE agents.

A tool for enforcement

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the law can help local police in cases when suspects are a flight risk or a repeat immigration offender.

"This is not designed to turn local police into immigration officers. It's another tool they can use when doing their typical duties," she said.

Florida was the first to have its state police perform immigration checks under the provision, followed by Alabama state police, who found they could not detain illegal immigrants long enough for ICE to step in, Kice said. The Arizona Department of Corrections and sheriff's department jail operations in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties followed, Kice said. Now as many as 10 other police agencies are working on reaching similar agreements with ICE, Kice said.

After an arrest of a criminal found to be in the country illegally, local authorities would decide whether to pursue local prosecution of the crime for which the individual was arrested. ICE places an immigration hold on the suspect at that time.

The individual will serve their sentence, if convicted. ICE takes custody at the end of the sentence and the outcome at that point depends on the individual's immigration history, Kice said.

ICE can either reinstate a deportation order if the individual was previously removed from the country, or pursue a felony charge of re-entering the United States after deportation., which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Immigration agents have found the most success in finding and prosecuting criminal immigrants in jails, Kice said.

A representative for Alabama state police did not return a call requesting comment.

Status check

At the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp, ICE agents do review booking logs twice a week to identify any inmates living in the country illegally, said Deputy Les Garcia, spokesman for the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department.

If agents overlook someone, that person continues through the jail system.

The sheriff department doesn't check immigration status, Garcia said.

"We're challenged enough by just our local and day-to-day calls for service," he said. "Enforcing federal immigration laws — that's up to the federal agencies."

Lodi Detective Mike Kermgard said officers notify ICE of suspects who are here illegally roughly twice a month. Those suspects have been deported to a variety of countries. Officers use the practice mainly for gang members and other serious offenders, Kermgard said.

Still, council members, who were unaware of the rarely used provision, had serious questions about having local police assume duties that historically have fallen to federal authorities.

"I don't know what it would do to our manpower," Councilman Bob Johnson said. "If we do detain somebody, what do we do with them? It's something that obviously would have to be discussed."

Officers in do not report suspected illegal aliens to ICE, Stockton police spokesman Pete Smith said, adding he did know exactly when the policy took effect.

Officials at the Galt Police Department were out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Problems of the past

During Hansen's tenure as police chief, the department occasionally found that suspects were living here illegally and notified federal authorities, who would take them into federal custody.

But Hansen said getting suspected illegal aliens into the hands of immigration authorities eventually proved tricky, as cutbacks apparently reduced the number of agents in the field.

"Picking them up was an exercise in futility," he said. "I think the issue is, does border patrol have the staffing to respond and deport those individuals?"

Hansen said he is not in favor of turning Lodi's officers into immigration agents, which ICE says the provision is not intended to do. But he said he supports immigration checks on criminal suspects that could lead to the deportation of criminal aliens.

But the fact that deported criminals could return to the United States with relative ease would render the program almost useless. Hansen said there were cases in Lodi during the 1980s and 1990s in which an illegal alien would be deported in connection with a crime only to show up in Lodi again a week later.

"If the issue of patrolling the borders isn't resolved, how effective is that going to be?" Hansen asked.

Adams said local law enforcement agencies must use caution to not be perceived as "quasi border patrol agents," which could persuade crime victims and witnesses not to come forward if they are here illegally.

"We want different segments of the community to have trust and faith. We do have to be cautious that we're not doing things that cause a problem in that area," he said.

Hitchcock said she would want a policy that reduces crime and "not unintentionally increase it."

Contact reporter Jake Armstrong at jakea@lodinews.com.

First published: Saturday, May 27, 2006

Reader Feedback

Brian wrote on Jun 4, 2006 9:51 AM:

" Double standards?! Oh Yeah! "

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