John Jay College Of Criminal Justice | The City University of New York

 

By Marie Rosen

Nearly 38 million immigrants (legal and illegal) reside in the United States, accordingto the Center for Immigration Studies. TheU.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)estimates that about 12 million of them areillegal — that’s nearly one in three.

The dilemma for local law enforcementacross the country is whether or to what extent they should enforce federalimmigration laws.

For the most part, enforcement of the country’s immigration laws falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government.But, in the absence of clear national policyand limited federal resources, local law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve have been left on their own to form policies and practices.

It’s a complicated issue. Just being here illegally is a civil, not a criminal, violation and across the country there is wide variation inhow local law enforcement addresses this problem. Policies range from local police and sheriffs being trained and “deputized” to strictly enforce federal law to localities that serve as sanctuaries for illegal immigrants.Many departments check status only whena suspect is arrested for a serious crime.Some jurisdictions will check status duringa traffic stop. Others leave the status check to the holding facility following an arrest.

To look at this issue more closely, the topicwas discussed with five John Jay alumni who are in police leadership positions around the country:

• Lawrence Mulvey (BA ’75), Police Commissioner of Nassau County, NY
• Frank Straub (MA ’90), Commissioner of Public Safety for White Plains, NY
• John Timoney (BA ’74), Police Chief of Miami, FL 
• Dennis Weiner (BS ’92), Police Chief of Juno Beach, FL
• Hubert Williams (BS ’70), Police FoundationPresident, Washington, DC For them, these issues are not hypothetical,but critical challenges that affect thousandsof lives on a daily basis.

For police to do their job effectively, they must have cooperation from the residents of their communities. “It’s the foundation, the bedrock, for policing. When a police badge is transformed into an immigration badge in the mindset of the immigrant community, there will be little cooperation with police,” saysWilliams. “I think it falls to the federal government to enforce immigration law,”says Mulvey. “For us to enforce immigration laws, which we really don’t have the authority to do, would break down all that hard work that we have engaged in during the years developing trust.” This trust, Mulvey believes,is in part responsible for the declining crime rates that his jurisdiction has been experiencing. “We want people to report crime, to bear witness to crime. And to have that, you have to have a certain level of trust.” 

In Nassau County, all the years of earning the community’s trust were tested in 2007 whenthe department assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a series of early morning raids to purportedly apprehend 131 gang members who were eligible for deportation. “Only nine of the targets were located, meaning that at 122 locations there was a consent search where agents encountered only ordinary citizens and immigrants, legal and illegal, who were not criminals, not involved in crime,” Mulvey noted. He withdrew the department’s support before the operation was completed.

In Miami, where 70 percent of the city is foreign-born and possesses real empathy and sympathy toward immigrants, “There is areticence of people coming forward because there is fear of deportation,” Timoney notes.“And it’s interesting what crimes go under reported. You see it in the serial sex crimes.” He recalled that on a number of occasions there was a serial rapist victimizing the Miami community. “People going into bedrooms at night… and quite abit of it went unreported until I made pleas ontelevision. Strict enforcement of immigration law would drive immigrants under the radar and there would be the underreporting ofcrime.”

Williams, who observed a focus group with the immigrant community, says, “We found that there is a deep fear of deportation within the immigrant community that has a chilling effect on their relationship with lawe nforcement.” He recalled that one participant was afraid to get groceries for her children when law enforcement was around. Straub also points out that, “If police are required to question the suspect, they may have to ask the status of the victim aswell. It’s not a conversation a victim wants to have.”

Straub’s jurisdiction operates similarly to that of a sanctuary. “I don’t think that local law enforcement should enforce federal immigration law. That being said, I don’t think there is necessarily a problem with local law enforcement participating in task forces that may look at serious offenders who areillegal.” In such areas as human trafficking,bank robbery investigations, drug trafficking and gang investigations, both federal agents and police have routinely worked together over the years. “There is a criminal element within the immigrant community,” noted Williams, “but it’s not a question of whether or not they immigrated into the country illegally, which is a federal responsibility, but whether these people are committing heinous crimes. So, I think such cooperation in this area can be very important for both federal and local authorities. But it must be done carefully.” 

The difficulty that police have with illegal immigrants who engage in criminal activityhas a history, according to Timoney. While serving with the NYPD from the 1960s through the 1980s “we would lock up people who were here illegally for serious felonies but we could never get immigration officials to respond. That someone is here illegally and is engaged in illegal activity is the critical test when it comes to enforcement.” For Weiner, the central issue is why pass laws that cannot be effectively enforced. “Any law that is not uniformly and regularly enforcedloses its deterrent effect. I maintain that one reason so many people attempt to enter the country illegally is that if one is successful,there is little risk that that individual will ever be held accountable for violating our immigration laws.”

“As president of Police Executive Research Forum  (a professional organization of city,county and state law enforcement agencies),” Timoney says, “I’ve witnessed more pressure from the federal governmentto get local police more involved and there has been resistance on the part of local police, especially among the big city chiefs.”At present, local policies range from requiring that police check the status of those with whom they come in contact to expressly forbidding it. To deal with the legal jurisdictional issues, the federal government established a program called “Section 287(g)of the Immigration and Nationality Act” thatpermits designated officers, who have been trained, to perform federal immigration law enforcement functions. So far, a relativelysmall number of law enforcement agenciesare participating in the program.

COMMUNITY SENTIMENT
Just how much local enforcement does in the way of checking status often reflects community sentiment. In Juno Beach, forexample, the community wants vigorous enforcement of immigration laws and the police department assists ICE and the BorderPatrol whenever requested. In White Plains,it’s a different story. Straub noted that his community aggressively looks for people to assimilate. “We run a 10-week program fornew members of our community without asking for immigration status. We let them know what services are available — schools,youth bureau, police, fire and health. We have a police officer who is assigned to day laborers. The officer goes to their informal shape-ups and lets them know about their rights when it comes to their employers such as their right to be paid at the end of theday.” But even within the same geographical area, there can be differences in how locall aw enforcement deals with the issue. For example, in Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix, the sheriff and the police chief have sometimes been at odds in their policies and practices.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITY — MYTH vs. REALITY
The extent to which illegal immigrants are involved in criminal activity depends on the specific locality and numerous jurisdictions report that a significant portion of the crime in their communities is being committed by illegal immigrants. But such is not the case in Nassau County. In the last 15 years, the Hispanic population has risen by more than100 percent yet serious offenses have decreased by 48 percent, which, for Mulvey,is an indication that immigrants (both legal and illegal) are not committing disproportionate amounts of crime.

In times of economic stress, crimes like burglary, robbery and theft traditionally go up.“In White Plains,” Straub notes, “we had an influx of people coming as landscapers,doing masonry work and construction-like jobs. If these jobs disappear, you’ll have more unemployment that could result in increased domestic violence, larceny, etc. Or you coulds ee a movement from one area to another where there are jobs.” “The economic downturn will magnify the problem as more and more citizens and resident aliens seek jobs that have been held by illegal immigrants,” says Weiner. Timoney is afraid that the economic downturn will result in a backlash against immigrants. “Historically,during bad economic times people like scapegoats,” a sentiment echoed by Williams.

Economic troubles don’t just affect residents, however. They also affect police department budgets as well. “I think the question is where can local law enforcement resources best beutilized,” says Straub. Mulvey and Timoney both feel that police already have enough on their plate and checking for status,particularly when no criminal infraction has occurred, would put an undue burden on police departments that are already strapped for resources.

ENFORCEMENT & REFORM
According to Department of HomelandSecurity (DHS), an average of 470,000 illegal immigrants primarily from Mexico, Central and South America enter the country each year.Weiner thinks an argument can be made that local law enforcement is in a good position tohandle immigration law enforcement sincethey routinely meet illegal immigrants. “It doesn’t seem economically viable to fund enough federal officers to adequately enforce our immigration laws.” He believes there are two basic choices. “Empower local lawenforcement to enforce immigration laws, or lower the barriers to legal immigration…which would provide for better identification and documentation of those that are entering this country.”

Timoney notes the irony of the situation.“I think we have an untenable position rightnow. We have 12 million people that are in nether land. It’s unrealistic to deport them all. If we were to do what they are asking us to do, there isn’t enough federal immigration detention capacity to handle it. They’ve got about 30,000 beds and they’re all filled. There needs to be concrete immigration reform.”

Some reform seems to be in the works with the appointment of Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security. She is viewed by many police chiefs as welle xperienced in the issues surrounding illegal immigrants. As Timoney points out, “She was the governor of a border state and a state that is divided on the issue.” In January, she told reporters that she wants “criminal aliens”off American streets. ICE deported about113,000 criminals who were in the country illegally last year and the agency estimatesthat there are currently some 450,000 suchcriminals in federal, state and local detentioncenters. Napolitano’s goal is for federal immigration officials to be notified immediately when an inmate is processed into a detention facility and deported after the criminal serves his or her sentence.

Marie Rosen is a senior editor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.