Posted on 10/28/2002 6:37:37 AM PST by 1Old Pro
Sheriff clashes with INS policies Clifton Park-- Deputies refuse to arrest suspected illegal immigrants because agents won't get involved
By BRENDAN LYONS and KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writers First published: Monday, October 28, 2002
Mounting tensions between police and federal immigration agents spilled over last week in Saratoga County when sheriff's officials declined to arrest two immigrants who allegedly were trying to obtain driver's licenses by using forged identification documents.
The unusual refusal by sheriff's officials to arrest the unlawful immigrants on felony forgery charges comes as local and State Police are complaining that their efforts to be vigilant in the hunt for foreign terrorists are being scuttled in bureaucracy.
In some cases, suspected unlawful immigrants who are pulled over by police or arrested for minor violations are being set free because U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents have told officers they do not have enough staff.
But last week's confrontation in Saratoga County involved two men, one from Guatemala and the other from Ecuador, who were later charged with felonies by State Police because sheriff's officials would not arrest them.
The first case unfolded Tuesday afternoon at a county Motor Vehicles office in Clifton Park Center mall.
Angel Jarro, 38, an Ecuadorian, was found to have a forged passport and other phony documents as he attempted to get a driver's license at the DMV office, according to police records. Investigators believe Jarro paid $1,800 to get the documents and to be driven upstate from New York City by a man who is a suspect in a forged document enterprise based in Queens.
In a sworn statement filed in court papers, David Fribourg, a DMV investigator, said he was rebuffed in his attempt to have sheriff's officials arrest the suspect.
"Mr. Jarro was transported to the Saratoga County sheriff's office in the Clifton Country Mall, where the sheriff declined arresting Mr. Jarro and any prosecution," Fribourg's deposition states.
A similar case took place at the same DMV office on Wednesday when sheriff's officials again declined to arrest a suspected unlawful immigrant on similar forgery charges. In both cases, the suspects were arrested by State Police investigators from Clifton Park after investigators consulted with INS officials on the telephone, court records show.
Sheriff James Bowen said this past week that he told his deputies to hold the subjects and have INS contacted so that they could arrest the illegal immigrants and check to see whether they are on any watch list. Bowen said INS refused to step in, saying it was a local matter. The DMV agent had the State Police make the arrest.
"We've been asked to cooperate with the federals. INS should be up here interviewing these people and determining if they are a threat to the country. We're just getting a complete fluff off," Bowen said.
The sheriff said his department has responded to federal requests for increased security since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Deputies were sent to the Saratoga County Airport and assisted in increasing the security at the Kenneth A. Kesselring Site in West Milton where the U.S. Navy trains sailors on nuclear reactors.
When the two men were arrested, Bowen said he wanted INS to get involved to make sure that the men were not potential terrorists.
"They didn't want to do anything about it. That's why we had Sept. 11. If they need more help then give them more help," the sheriff said.
Bowen spoke with U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, Thursday night and complained that INS was not doing its job and that local jails should not be dumping grounds for suspected illegal aliens. The federal government has contracts locally with Albany and Montgomery counties to pay to use their jails for people facing federal charges.
"I think it's an amazingly disturbing trend," Sweeney said Sunday. "We've given these people (federal authorities) unprecedented resources, billions of dollars. ... My tolerance level for them is at zero."
Sweeney said he intends to have INS officials ordered to testify at a House subcommittee meeting if officials do not explain why agents are not more aggressively investigating police complaints on suspected unlawful immigrants, especially cases involving criminal activity.
The controversy comes as Gov. George Pataki has held off endorsing a proposal that would give local police the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants on federal immigration charges. The governor's counterterrorism adviser, James Kallstrom, and other police leaders have publicly supported the idea. Earlier this year, three dozen Florida police officers were deputized with federal arrest powers, making that state the first in the nation to approve such a measure.
There are about 2,000 immigration agents assigned to keep tabs on the estimated 7 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
In March, the arguable shortage of INS agents became apparent when State Police pulled over a van on the Thruway in Schenectady County that was packed with eight people from Mexico. A trooper who speaks Spanish was called in and determined the men had recently crossed a southern border without documentation and were on their way to Rochester.
"INS agent ... was contacted and declined any action against subjects," said a police blotter entry about the incident.
The eight immigrants were in a 1984 van with Florida license plates and an expired registration. The van was towed but troopers said they had no authority to detain the immigrants after issuing the driver several traffic violation summonses. The next day, the group paid a towing fee at a garage in Schenectady, climbed back into their van and drove away, according to a garage worker.
State Police investigators familiar with such cases said it's routine for INS agents to decline getting involved. There are roughly five INS agents assigned to cover 20 counties in the Capital Region, officials said.
"I'm tired of hearing this kind of stuff," Sweeney said. "This is as egregious as it gets and we were given every assurance in the world that this kind of thing wasn't going to happen. ... I intend to not go away on this. I'm going to kick some doors down."
That's the problem, the illegals are being promised amnesty on one hand but we're paying INS agents money to do a job that's being made impossible. The politicians know everytime they mention amnesty thousands of people pack their bags to come over to get in on it.
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.