NYC Police Free Suspicious Men Due to Alleged Lack of INS Cooperation

NY POST | 5-30-02 | Murray Weiss

[Marine Inspector]

INS was the right agency to call. FBI doesn't have any detention centers. Where would they put them? There was no crime committed, so state police would not want to be involved. This was an INS situation.

Your right they should have called the INS, but after calling the INS and getting the response they got, they should have locked them up in a local jail.

That's what the INS does. The majority of INS detainees are in local jails.

[Rita289]

They should have been locked up, but officers would need a "detainer" from INS before that could happen. True, some are detained are in local jails, but there are detention centers contracted by INS to keep the majority of detainees.

[Marine Inspector]

They should have been locked up, but officers would need a "detainer" from INS before that could happen. True, some are detained are in local jails, but there are detention centers contracted by INS to keep the majority of detainees.

A detainer talks 5 minutes to fill out, and there is a detention facility in New York City.

If the NYPD was as concerned as they say, they could have driven them to the detention facility in their city and handed them over to the Detention Enforcement Officers.

The INS was wrong in their decision to cut them loose, but so was the NYPD.

[eno_]

Oustanding! So not only did the INS (and NYPD, as Marine Inspector correctly points out) drop the ball, they are probably dropping the ball on a major immigration scam and other crimes being run out of that office.

First rule of bureucratic screw-ups: It's probably ten times worse than what makes it into the papers.

[Republicus2001]

Shoulda reported that they were smoking!

[Woodstock]

It just makes one wonder how many times this has happened in the past and never made the news.

[Dialup Llama]

>Not a reason in the world the home-town cops couldn't have held them over the weekend.

Having a fake passport is still a crime.

[pankot]

Doris Meissner, former INS head who persecuted Elian, is the cause of this. Find her. Jail her.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

Just fire these ins workers and let any local authority make up their own rules.Hel*,stick them illegals in work farms or have your way with them,I DON'T CARE!

[F16Fighter]

Well, in theory, as long as US security depends on the FBI and INS, we should all feel um...er...safe...RIGHT??

[FreeReign]

"What's the point of stopping vans and risking your life when the one agency with power blows you off?" one angry lawman said. "And this is after Sept. 11."

"What's the point in believing a source if the source doesn't even what to give their name" said one angry FreeRepublic poster -- FreeReign.

[doug from upland]

I am absolutely outraged that they referenced the ethnic or racial or religious designation of the people involved. We cannot do that. I have finally seen the light. Everyone is an equal threat, even the grandma in the wheel chair. A phony government card and bogus passport are not suspicious. Do you know how many causasian, black, hispanic, and Asian American citizens have those? The number is probably staggering.

We should not be vigilant. It is just not right.

[sushiman]

The great America we once knew is in self-destuct mode . I pray that God comes soon and ends the whole bloody experiment .

[vannrox]

"It's frightening and disheartening," said another. "The agency that handles immigration didn't want to come down" — although every other law-enforcement agency did. "They didn't even want to be bothered."

The INS didn't seem to have anybody on duty in New York City.

[texasbluebell]

We did have a pretty good run of things, though -- couple hundred years, not too bad.

Our time is not up yet. I believe our best days are ahead. (At least I'm still hoping that's true.)

[aristeides]

Feinstein says racial profiling fears hinder FBI .