Posted on 06/24/2012 7:01:43 AM PDT by kevcol
The Berkeley Police Department announced Tuesday that it will not honor its agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold illegal immigrants who are being detained for minor offenses.
At a special meeting of the Berkeley City Council, Police Chief Michael Meehan clarified that a person would have to be determined suspicious — being involved in activities like item intrusion, manipulating or defacing part of an infrastructure, theft, vandalism, or cyber attack — to be detained.
The specific terms have yet to be determined. The council decided to send the policy to the city manager to review what qualifies as a criminal act, after which it will be presented to the council again at a meeting in September.
“Absolutely (the meeting) in September will determine our compliance with ICE,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin.
According to Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission Chair George Lippman, this policy change reflects city officials’ desire to establish one in which Berkeley puts its constitutional and human rights values first.
“I applaud the courage of the people making the decision to not comply — rather than ‘honor,’” said activist and former UC Berkeley graduate student Francisco “Pancho” Ramos Stierle. “There’s nothing honorable about kidnapping parents and hard working people — with the ICE hold.”
Stierle was arrested while meditating during a police raid of Occupy Oakland in November and detained because his student visa expired in 2008.
Through a program called Secure Communities, detainees’ fingerprints are run through the federal database, which then sends the data to ICE even if the person has not committed a criminal act. After being turned over to ICE as an undocumented immigrant, Stierle was at risk of deportation, despite having no criminal record.
Stierle’s arrest for non-violent civil disobedience is one of many cases that prompted the city council to make the changes in the department’s compliance with the ICE.
“(Implementing this policy) will address the flaws of Secure Communities to make sure that innocent people don’t get arrested,” Arreguin said.
According to the ICE website, 396,906 illegal immigrants were removed from the United States in 2011 — 54.6 percent of whom were criminal offenders. Arreguin said he considers that percentage to be flawed because of the loose definition of what is criminal.
Many community members concerned with the ICE agreement with Berkeley and other cities expressed their sentiments at the meeting.
“Unfortunately, being an immigrant is like being black in the age of slavery in the United States,” said Berkeley resident Pablo Perez. “(Illegal immigrants) have no idea what it is like to be innocent until proven guilty.”
Others expressed their sentiments about Berkeley police’s compliance with ICE.
“They are using our resources when they should be behind the real criminals, not behind people that work hard,” said Manuel de Paz, a member of the Coalition for a Safe Berkeley.
According to Lippman, although the city was not able to finalize the policies at the special meeting, a conversation about creating a human rights oriented policy was definitely started.
“Berkeley will be the first in the country to have such a policy,” Arreguin said. “This sends a message to Berkeley we should not adopt a policy in which we are giving our employees to a forced federal immigration law.”
being an illegal seems to be pretty sweet
no taxes
no health insurance
free health care at every emergency room
free school
free cell phone and minutes
‘in-state’ tuition to any college in the country
no penalty for committing any crime, up to murder and drug dealing
and the best part? you get to spit on those paying for everything you’re stealing.. and the media / whitehouse will back you up
(please explain to me again why i’m paying for this? oh yea... the threat of violence. gotcha. how’s this different from a normal mugging? i mean, besides the fact that a mugging ENDS eventually...)
“Minor offenses? Heck, they’re violating federal law being here in the first place. That’s not a minor offense!!!”
This just KILLS me on this issue. Because our governments seem to be picking and choosing what laws they should follow and/or enforce, It seems to be reasonable to think that EVERYONE should follow this great example by exercising their new-found freedoms!
This is, of course, is basically the way that the Roman Empire and USSR fell. People simply stopped believing in them, including the leaders themselves.
“Minor offenses? Heck, they’re violating federal law being here in the first place. That’s not a minor offense!!!”
This just KILLS me on this issue. Because our governments seem to be picking and choosing what laws they should follow and/or enforce, It seems to be reasonable to think that EVERYONE should follow this great example by exercising their new-found freedoms!
This is, of course, is basically the way that the Roman Empire and USSR fell. People simply stopped believing in them, including the leaders themselves.
Wow! Truly a get out of jail free, non card! Illegal aliens don’t have to hold to any standard of decency in berserkly!
May all crimes committed by any illegals be directed at the The Berkeley Police Department and their families.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.