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Immigration and law enforcement: Who's illegal? |
By Amanda
Newman,
Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail Amanda at
anewman@eaglenewspapers.com
|
Illegal immigration’s
relationship with the justice system — at the local, county and
state levels — is complex at best. Sometimes, it’s downright
confusing.
The number of illegal aliens being held for crimes is difficult to
determine. Estimates at the county and state level rely on
information provided by the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement
(ICE).
Numbers and policies
According to a 2005 publication by the Federal Bureau of Prisons,
11.2 percent of the national inmate population is being held
specifically for immigration offenses. Of the more than 13,500
inmates incarcerated in Oregon, records show that 1,872 (13.86
percent) were born outside the United States, according to a 2007
publication by the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC).
But the number of Oregon inmates who have entered the country
illegally is an “educated estimate” at best, said Perrin Damon, a
DOC spokesperson. “We don’t have any way to find out unless the feds
tell us.”
As of Tuesday morning, three of 223 inmates were listed with ICE
holds on the roster of the Yamhill County jail. This is the only
available indicator of current criminal aliens at the county level.
Local and county law enforcement officers do not ask the
immigration status of detained individuals. Whether that is law,
policy or unspoken rule is not clear — even to those who subscribe
to it.
“We will not ask that question,” said Sgt. Tim Weaver of the
Newberg-Dundee Police Department. “I don’t think it’s a violation of
policy ... (but) we don’t really concern ourselves with it.”
After reading a detainee his or her Miranda rights, however,
officers offer to contact a foreign consulate if the individual is
not a legal resident, Weaver said.
“We’re actually prohibited (from asking) in some cases,” said Capt.
Ken Summers of the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office. “There’s concern
about racial profiling ... it’s very complicated.”
“It’s not policy (to ask),” said Capt. Ron Huber of the Yamhill
County jail. “I don’t think many (jails) inquire about their
citizenship.”
Huber explained that detainees are asked to provide proof of birth
and state their citizenship during the booking process, but proof of
the latter is not required.
The responsibility of determining whether or not an inmate is an
illegal immigrant, apparently, falls to ICE.
Legal process
According to spokesperson Lori Dankers, ICE’s criminal alien
program employs agents specifically trained to determine an
individual’s legal status. ICE offices routinely search inmate
rosters throughout the country, running names and numbers against a
database to identify possible illegal aliens.
ICE puts a hold, or detainer, on suspected illegal aliens and takes
them into custody after all other charges against them have been
resolved. Under the jurisdiction of the Seattle Office of
Investigations, which covers ICE operations in Oregon, Washington
and Alaska, detainees are often held in the Northwest Detention
Center in Tacoma, Wash.
An immigration judge reviews each case to determine if the
individual should be allowed to remain in the country, Dankers said.
If the person has already gone through the judicial process and has
been deported from the country, he or she will not have the
opportunity to go before a judge again. Deportation, a federal
action, is not permitted at the state level.
An ICE Immigration Enforcement Agent (IEA) visits the Yamhill
County jail one or two days per week to conduct interviews and
follow-up interviews as needed, Dankers said. Congress is working to
appropriate funds for ICE to work directly in more local areas.
Summers said the sheriff’s office is not permitted to send names to
ICE to run through the database. Dankers said this was probably a
local policy.
“Our policy is that any law enforcement agency ... can contact us
at any time and our policy is to reply within 24 hours,” she said.
In fact, ICE encourages such cooperation.
“ICE sent a message to (county) jails in June and asked us to fax
them every time a foreign-born person was booked in our jail,” Huber
said.
Yamhill County did not choose to do that, he said, but neighboring
Washington County did, “because they have so many (suspected illegal
aliens).” Huber said Washington County’s ICE holds increased when
they began to send in names.
“I don’t have any data,” Dankers said, “but if agencies call us
(with names) ... clearly the numbers go up.”
The DOC also provides ICE with lists of foreign-born inmates. In
February, 1,010 DOC inmates had ICE detainers — as much as 7.5
percent of the total inmate population. Of those, the largest number
(804) were born in Mexico.
What’s the cost?
According to the DOC’s 2006 State Criminal Alien Assistance
Program (SCAAP) grant, which distributes federal funds to states as
partial reimbursement for incarceration costs, 1,722 criminal aliens
were incarcerated in Oregon between July 2004 and June 2005.
At a daily cost of more than $67 per inmate, criminal aliens
amassed more than $32.5 million in housing costs that year. Oregon
received $4.4 million in SCAAP reimbursement, 1.32 percent of the
total Congressional appropriation.
Is it an issue?
Is illegal immigration an issue in law enforcement?
“(Illegal immigration) is a very, very touchy subject and law
enforcement is kind of in the middle in many cases,” Summers said.
“I think it’s something that is going to have to be addressed by the
legislature — we do have some (individuals) that are here unlawfully
that seem to be causing quite a bit of trouble.”
Still, he said, “We just enforce the laws. It would be nice if the
legislature would make it clear to us just what is the role we’re
supposed to play. Right now, it’s kind of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
situation.”
Oregon statutes passed in 1987 prohibits local law enforcement
officers from enforcing federal immigration laws that target
individuals based on race or ethnic origin when they are not
suspected of criminal activities. The law does not appear to make
provisions for those who are suspected of crimes and being held for
trial.
“Crime is crime,” said Weaver. “At our level, it really doesn’t matter if
the person is a citizen, an immigrant or an illegal immigrant ... it
doesn’t come into play.”
“I don’t think (the issue) is as huge in our jail as in others,”
Huber said. “I think at any given moment we have between five and 10
illegal immigrants in custody.”
Even though the numbers are small, “we’re holding these people and
nobody’s paying for it,” he continued. “But if there’s no other
charges, they don’t last here more than a day or two.”
Huber said ICE has three days to pick up an inmate on whom they
have registered a hold.
“We can usually pretty quickly eliminate who is useful to us or
not,” Dankers said. She explained that individuals who threaten
national security or public safety are top priorities.
“(But) those individuals who haven’t committed a crime — they’re
just here illegally — they, too, have committed a crime,” she said.
“Being in the country is violation enough to deport them.”
Dankers said there are “so many ways” to enforce immigration laws
that it is hard to identify the specific impact of criminal alien
detection. Still, she said, “it certainly is fertile ground for us.” |
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From
Sept. 19, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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