Posted on 04/30/2007 12:06:47 PM PDT by HiJinx
Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported record number of undocumented immigrants in 2006
CHICAGO — The question is taboo for local law enforcement in many cities: Are you a U.S. citizen?
Chicago, Phoenix and other cities have declared themselves sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, adopting ordinances that prohibit local police from asking residents about their immigration status during routine activities, such as traffic stops.
But as the debate over immigration reform has heightened, so have federal efforts to capture and remove undocumented immigrants — even in sanctuary cities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed a record 187,513 undocumented immigrants from the country in 2006, a 10 percent increase from the previous year, the agency reported.
In fiscal year 2006, ICE recorded about 6,900 deportations for a six-state region that includes Illinois, said Gail Montenegro, a Chicago-based ICE spokeswoman. That figure was up from 6,375 in 2005 and 6,300 in 2004. Montenegro could provide no figures on how many undocumented immigrants have come into federal custody after being stopped by local police.
“Our ultimate goal is deportation, so (those) statistics are what we have available,” she said. “I would say they’ve been steadily increasing.”
But what role local police should play in helping federal authorities arrest an increasing number of undocumented immigrants has become a point of debate.
Some communities have become willing partners with ICE, seeking training that allows them to act on behalf of federal immigration authorities. Others say local police simply don’t have the resources to enforce federal immigration law.
Still others take it a step further and instruct police to turn a blind eye as long as an immigrant isn’t committing a crime.
Cook County, Illinois — with an estimated 300,000 undocumented immigrants — could become the latest sanctuary. The County Board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would direct the sheriff’s department not to help investigate anyone’s citizenship or immigration status unless it involves a crime unrelated to that status. While Chicago has been a sanctuary since 1989, those protections do not extend to the rest of Cook County.
“Hard-working immigrants and their families should feel safe and welcome in Cook County,” said Roberto Maldonado, a commissioner whose district includes a church where an undocumented Mexican woman has been sheltered while defying a federal deportation order.
“We must do what we can to provide the environment necessary to keep our families united,” he said in a written statement. “Immigrants are an asset to our economy, our culture and our future in Cook County.”
Other communities have taken a similar stance. Officials in Cambridge, Mass. — calling for federal immigration reform — declared the city a sanctuary last year, updating a designation it first took in 1985. Houston, Los Angeles and Phoenix also are among cities that have declared immigrant sanctuaries.
But sanctuary cities are coming under increasing fire from opponents who say the measures interfere with federal law enforcement and promote criminal behavior.
Randy Pullen, chairman of the Republican Party in Arizona, has helped organize a movement to repeal Phoenix’s sanctuary measure, which he contends sends a message that it’s OK to break the law and has created an environment that allows gang members and crime to flourish.
“There is a big portion of our crime problem that revolves around illegal immigration,” Pullen said. “I’m not saying the typical immigrant is here to steal or commit crimes — many of them are here to work — but because we create this illicit group of people in our country, we have this illegal activity that revolves around them.”
In Los Angeles, one of the nation’s oldest sanctuary policies, known as “Special Order 40,” is being challenged in court by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
“In my view, these things seem to be contrary to federal law ... It seems fairly obvious,” said Paul Ofranedes, director of litigation for Judicial Watch, which also has sued Chicago for information about the police department’s procedures for dealing with undocumented immigrants.
Regardless of a city’s policy, ICE officials say they’re perfectly willing to act on their own — even checking the inmate rolls at county jails — to look for illegal immigrants. But they say they’re getting cooperation from police, even in sanctuary cities.
Technicians at ICE’s Law Enforcement Support Center responded to more than 661,000 electronic queries from federal, state and local police officers in fiscal year 2006, according to data provided by ICE.
California activist Enrique Morones says immigrants are getting nervous.
An increasing number of callers to his radio show are wondering what their rights are during encounters with police. More and more listeners who live in sanctuary cities in southern California, such as San Diego, are complaining about police harassment, he said.
“There has been some bending of the rules,” Morones said. “Some cities are not following those procedures.”
Chicago attorney Ashley Dwarsky said one of his clients, a Polish national, spent seven months in detention after he was pulled over for using a cell phone while driving on Chicago’s northwest side. Police somehow discovered a 13-year-old deportation order, he said.
“It was an absolutely routine traffic stop,” Dwarsky said. “And they handed him over to (ICE) within 30 minutes. It shows how life can change in the blink of an eye.”
Morones believes sanctuary ordinances will continue to play an important role until meaningful immigration reform is passed by Congress, but said current sanctuary measures should be expanded.
He said immigrants could become reluctant to report crimes out of fear local police are collaborating with federal immigration authorities.
“The real criminals are going to get away because no one is going to come forward and say that guy is a child molester, or that guy is going to beat his wife,” Morones said. “There are always going to be exceptions where you may find a car loaded with 30 or 40 people, but that should be the exception not the rule.”
Ping!
“He said immigrants could become reluctant to report crimes ..”
Their presence here IS a crime.
Sanctuary Citys?! When did cities get to pick and choose which laws to ignore?
Any elected official who votes to create a sanctuary needs to be arrested and put on trial. And then deported to the worst hellhole we can find.
Houston Sanctuary Ping...
“removed a record 187,513 undocumented immigrants from the country in 2006...”
Only 11.9 million to go.
I thought Houston was removed from the list.
Ought to be called “Rogue Cities.”
“There has been some bending of the rules,” Morones said.
A bending of the rules by the police, eh? Is that similar to foreigners bending the rule against entering a sovereign nation illegally?
You can try to make this stuff up, but Scott Ott would have discarded that quote as too stupid to be real.
You can't treat Rudy like that!
I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.
But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.
Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: you child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.
Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder
When stupid people vote...(i.e.: liberals)
And they vote people in like Mayor Bill White (Houston), his predecessor Lee (period) Pee (period) Brown, former mayor...
Both support(ed) the Houston Police Departments ordinance 500-5 that basically handcuffs the street cops from “inquiring” to the immigration status of those they feel it is “probable cause” to ask what their immigration status is...
Much less if they find an illegal, and they are not committing a felony...They’ll walk, drive, run away...There’s nothing they can, or will do about it...
ICE (Feds) in Houston have an office near the main airport...But there is not a lot of activity there, or anywhere for that matter...They don’t do much but occupy space and time in the 4th largest city in the U.S.
But who’s counting, right???
I believe we need to declare that the immigration war is over and we lost...
I mean as long as somebody says we lost, its ok...
/sarcasm
If so, the reporter did not do his homework...
Excellent analogy!!!
Maybe he did. I can’t remember the details but something bad happened and I remember that they were going to make some changes. You know how that goes though.
Excellent!
“Welcome time is up, is well overspent; the free ride is fast coming to an end.”
We shall keep making advancements so long as Conservatives keep “the boot on the neck of the GOP”.
Only another 100 years to go.
Outstanding archy! Libs won’t understand it.
Last week our 5 year old grandson was having a ‘conversation’ with the neighbor kids.
He told ‘em, “Don’t talk spanish - talk normal.” :)
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