Interior Enforcement
Salt Lake City Police Chief Takes a Bite Out of Local Immigration Enforcement
Yesterday, a small group of Utah Minutemen gathered to protest Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s and Police Chief Chris Burbank’s decision not to enforce some provisions of SB81—Utah’s immigration legislation that allows the cross-deputization of city officers to enforce federal immigration laws. The legislation is slated to take effect on July 1st. Utah Minuteman President, Eli Cawley, however, claims that the city’s refusal to enforce SB81 is actually protecting lawbreakers at the American people's expense. In their arrogance and wrong-headed insistence on pandering to illegal aliens at the expense of the rule of law and the safety of our people, Becker and Burbank have chosen, by their refusal to enforce SB81, to protect lawbreakers instead of citizens. Right. This coming from the man who when asked about his “biggest concern” with the “Obama presidency” responded, “Amnesty for illegal aliens because he is one.” Although Cawley claims the group is not racially motivated, several protesters were heard shouting at nearby Latino construction workers with such gems as “Go home!” and “Give us back our jobs!” without knowing anything about their immigration status. Clearly, "race" is not a part of this debate. Wait, how does an immigrant look undocumented again? Read More
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Adds More Flash to His Pan
Anti-immigrant media glutton, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, doesn’t stay out of the headlines for very long. In March, the menacing Sheriff Arpaio, known for transforming Arizona’s Maricopa County Police Department into an immigration-enforcement agency, made headlines when he became the focus of a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation for “allegations of discriminatory practices based on a person’s national origin and unconstitutional searches and seizures.” The federal investigation, a result of racial profiling allegations, only makes this latest headline all the more ironic—Sheriff Arpaio now says the Department of Justice is not playing fair in its investigation. Read More
Local Police Report Makes the Case for Federal Enforcement of Immigration Laws
This week the Police Foundation issued a long awaited report, The Role of Local Police: Striking a Balance Between Immigration Enforcement and Civil Liberties. The Police Foundation found that because Congress has failed to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform, states and localities have spent more time and resources curbing immigration themselves at the high cost of protecting their communities from more serious threats to public safety. Among its conclusions, the Police Foundation found that: The costs of participating in the 287(g) program outweigh the benefits. Police officers should be prohibited from arresting and detaining persons to solely investigate immigration status in the absence of probably cause of an independent state criminal law violation. If a local agency enters into a 287(g) MOU, its participation should be focused on serious criminal offenders. Police should develop policies and procedures for monitoring racial profiling and abuse of authority. Local law enforcement agencies should employ community-policing and problem-solving tactics to improve relations with immigrant communities and resolve tension caused by expanding immigration. Read More
Obama’s Controversial Two-Step Moves in Direction of Immigration Reform
After boosting border enforcement, the Obama Administration recently announced that it will also increase funding for a troublesome program started by George W. Bush. The controversial program gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unregulated access to the immigration information of every person in local prisons across the United States. Although Obama may be sending mixed signals as he paves a road to immigration reform—signals that frustrates many of his most steadfast supporters—he also understands that he must smooth the way for immigration reform by restoring the confidence of the American public and prove that the government is capable of upholding the rule of law. Immigration enforcement is fundamentally a federal responsibility, but state and local governments can and should play a role in helping the federal government remove violent criminals from American society. Obama's focus on catching hardened criminals represents the right prioritization of resources that are being funneled in the wrong direction. Rather than addressing the serious problems associated with the Bush Administration's "Secure Communities" program, Obama's 2010 budget, which allots $200 million for the program, seeks to expand rather than mend the deeply flawed initiative. Read More
Crackdown on Bad Seed Employers a Step in the Right Direction
This week, the Denver Post watch underworld rise of the lycans in HD highlighted the case of five undocumented migrant farmworkers who were imprisoned in squalor at the hands of their smugglers, Moises and Maria Rodriguez. The Mexican farmworkers, who were found working the fields of Northern Colorado, lived in a fenced-in compound on the edge of the Weld County in vile makeshift houses that the Colorado Department of Labor inspectors deemed “uninhabitable.” According to reports, the men piled into an old school bus and rode to a farm field, then put in 12 hours planting, or weeding, or harvesting vegetables. The smugglers paid them a mere $7 an hour, but only allowed the workers to keep $2 an hour. The five migrant workers made headlines when they filed and won a federal lawsuit against Moises and Maria Rodriquez. Denver U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock awarded the imprisoned workers $7.8 million—more than $1.5 million each—for “numerous violations of the Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.” Read More
Sheriff Joe Arpaio to Recruit and Arm Citizens, Neo-Nazis “Have His Back”
Rather than cleaning up his police department and addressing allegations of racial profiling and discrimination, Arpaio has decided to recruit and arm more Maricopa citizens in the absence of state funds. Back in April, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona voted to postpone the acceptance of $1.6 million from the state to help pay for County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's controversial immigration enforcement tactics. Observers said the decision could signal that the board is concerned by federal inquires into Arpaio's practices that stem from his hard-line immigration tactics which include the deputization of volunteer "posses" to perform immigration sweeps, armed workplace raids, and set up checkpoints. Read More
Low-Income Latinos and Immigrants Reported “Under Siege” in the South
Today the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report entitled "Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South." SLPC report adds to the mounting evidence pointing to the harmful impact that the absence of a functioning immigration system is having on Latinos and immigrant communities. SPLC investigators interviewed and surveyed 500 low-income Latinos -- including U.S. citizens, legal residents, and undocumented immigrants -- in the South and found a population "under siege and living in fear -- fear of the police, fear of the government and fear of criminals who prey on immigrants because of their vulnerability." Read More
Arizona’s Sheriff Arpaio Puts Publicity Before Border Violence Hearing
You'd think America's self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff," Joe Arpaio, would've been in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona to attend yesterday's U.S. Senate hearing on border violence. Instead, while a panel of U.S. Senators lead by John McCain traveled to Arizona, Sheriff Arpaio was well on his way to appear on Stephen Colbert's comedy show, The Colbert Report, taped in New York City. Arpaio is known for transforming Arizona's Maricopa County Police Department into an immigration-enforcement agency, taking the pursuit of undocumented immigrants to "unconstitutional extremes" and gaining international notoriety and a Department of Justice investigation in the process. Yet, if all his extreme tactics are in the name of protecting his community, why did Arpaio miss a hearing on one of the biggest threats to Maricopa County's public safety hosted in his own town hall? The truth is Arpaio's appetite for publicity is so insatiable that it overrides any sense of duty, rationality, or morality. Read More
American Citizens Illegally Detained and Deported
You probably can't imagine the horror and frustration of being detained in a jail cell just waiting to be deported—separated from your friends, family and your job—knowing full well you are an American citizen with every right to live in this country. According to a recent AP article, however, this gross injustice has been the reality for literally hundreds of US citizens. In a drive to crack down on illegal immigrants, the United States has locked up or thrown out dozens, probably many more, of its own citizens over the past eight years. A monthslong AP investigation has documented 55 such cases, on the basis of interviews, lawsuits and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. These citizens are detained for anything from a day to five years. Immigration lawyers say there are actually hundreds of such cases. Read More
Utah Police Say “Local Agencies Can’t Solve the Immigration Problem”
Salt Lake City's local NBC channel reports that many residents are up in arms about a new state immigration law (SB 81) that would allow police to question individuals' legal status, among other stringent requirements on everyone from employers to landlords. The Salt Lake Police Department's Chief Burbank has been opposed to the immigration bill from the beginning and, according to some sources, has said he will not participate in its enforcement. There have been growing national concerns about the involvement of local police in the enforcement of immigration law. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice for civil rights infractions associated with his police department's partnership with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Burbank is justifiably cautious in his opposition to enforcing a law that he believes requires law enforcement to racially profile individuals to determine whether they are undocumented or not. Read More
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