NJ: Cracking Down on Beaners

More than immigration agents
Morristown cops, unlike other ICE deputies, would practice street-level
enforcement
Friday, March 30, 2007
BY BRIAN DONOHUE AND MAURA McDERMOTT
Star-Ledger Staff

When Morristown announced it was signing up for a federal program that
deputizes local law enforcement officers as federal immigration agents, they
pointed to the success of 10 agencies already enrolled.

But Morristown's proposal differs dramatically from the way the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's program has been used in other places
around the country.

By empowering local police to bust illegal immigrants, the plan described by
the mayor and other officials would take the controversial federal program
into uncharted territory.

As proposed by Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello, 10 patrol officers would
be trained on how to investigate and begin the deportation process against
illegal immigrants.

Not only people arrested for serious crimes but also those caught jaywalking
or living in an overcrowded house could be subject to immigration checks by
police, according to recent statements by town officials.

None of the 10 agencies enrolled in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
program employs that type of street-level immigration enforcement by cops on
the beat. Eight of the 10 agencies are sheriff's departments that deputize
jail guards to perform immigration checks on people sitting in jails or
state prisons.

The other two agencies -- state police in Florida and Alabama -- have
deputized state troopers who target a narrow range of more-serious offenses
than beat cops in Morristown or other cities do.

In addition, Cresitello's vow to investigate employers of illegal workers
would broaden the program's scope well beyond the role described by Homeland
Security officials who administer it.

"This program is aimed at criminal activity," said Michael Gilhooly,
spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS agency that runs
the program referred to as 287(g). "It's really fugitive apprehension, gang
enforcement, drug enforcement and use by sheriffs in jails."

The differences between the goals of the program and Morristown's proposal
pose questions about whom police officers would target for immigration
checks.

Cresitello said those details will be worked out once the town formally
applies and begins negotiations with ICE.

"There are plenty of Morristown police officers who would like to have the
power, and they more than likely will have the power," he said.

FILLING GAPS

For decades, only federal immigration officers had the authority to charge
and detain people for illegal presence in the United States, a violation of
civil, not criminal, codes.

The system, however, created large gaps in enforcement that allowed
noncitizens convicted of crimes to elude deportation after finishing their
jail terms.

When police in New Jersey and other states encountered unauthorized
immigrants, federal agents often ordered them released, citing a lack of
manpower and jail space.

In 2002, the Bush administration launched 287(g) to solve some of the
problems.

The program trains local officers to use federal databases and gather other
evidence to prove a person is in the country illegally. If an ICE supervisor
approves the charges, the officer can order the suspect to appear in federal
immigration court.

Besides the 10 agencies actively enrolled in the program, sheriff's
departments in Davidson County, Tenn., and Maricopa, County, Ariz., are in
the final week of training.

Fifty other agencies have applied or sent letters of intent to ICE.

More than 10,000 people have been deported as a result of checks done by
ICE-trained troopers and sheriffs officers, Gilhooly said.

"Obviously, it's been very effective," said Julia Rush, director of
communications for North Carolina's Mecklenberg County Sheriff's Department,
which has put 1,527 people in deportation proceedings since the program
began May 1, 2006.

Even in that county, where the program has made Sheriff James Pendergraph a
hero among anti-illegal immigration groups, officials say the job is better
left to jailers than to cops.

Police worry that local immigrants will become too fearful to report crimes
or serve as witnesses, allowing more criminals to go uncaught, said Jane
Hill, communications director for the police department in Charlotte, the
largest city in Mecklenberg County.

"It makes it much more difficult for the police department to be engaged in
the front end with people who otherwise aren't doing anything wrong," Hill
said.

OTHER CHALLENGES

In Morristown, local police enforce a far wider range of laws and local
ordinances than state police or sheriff's officers. Cresitello said he wants
to focus on criminals, but he hasn't ruled out using immigration checks for
such minor offenses as jaywalking.

"The way I understand it, if they're stopped in conjunction with a
violation, then you would have the authority to look beyond that, to look
into the federal aspect of the violation," Cresitello said. "A police
officer has the discretion to decide when to enforce any law. This is not
different."

Having beat cops do immigration checks presents other challenges.

To avoid racial profiling, Alabama State Police are now required to ask all
drivers stopped for traffic violations if they are a U.S. citizen.
Morristown Councilman John Cryan, who voted to endorse the town's 287(g)
application, suspects Morristown police will be forced to do the same.

"I agree with the mayor's stance," he said. "As far as actually making it
work in town, that's a whole other issue."

BURDEN OF PROOF

Some immigration experts say the program will be a heavy lift for local
police because it can be difficult to prove someone is in the United States
illegally.

For some legal residents, the only proof of their status may be a photocopy
of a judge's order. For others, such as Hondurans granted temporary
protected status after Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the only proof may be a line
added to the federal regulations extending their legal residency.

"Immigration law is complicated -- but not complicated like physics. It's
complicated in an irrational way," said Michael Wishnie, a professor at the
Yale University School of Law who has studied 287(g). "It's pretty much a
rule-free environment."

Cresitello dismissed those concerns, saying, "There's always a way for
someone to prove who they are."

He predicted police also would be able to use the program's powers to check
whether contractors are hiring illegal immigrants. That, he said, would help
solve the town's problems by forcing illegal immigrants to leave Morristown
altogether.

"People aren't going to live in a town where they can't work," he said.



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