Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to Check Immigration Status of Convicts
Eastern Group Publications, News Report, Staff, Posted: Jan 31, 2005
Over protests from immigrant rights groups, Los Angeles County sheriff's personnel will be trained by federal authorities to conduct jailhouse interviews to report on convicted inmates' immigration status.
The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 last week to approve the proposal, which Sheriff Leroy Baca had been attempting for several weeks to put on the Supervisor’s agenda.
The new policy, being implemented on a six-month trial basis, allows county employees to be trained and cleared for access to the Deportable Alien Control System (DACS), a federal database.
The policy will also allow county employees “to perform standard interviews of self-declared foreign-born inmates to determine whether an inmate is a convicted criminal alien or a previously deported criminal alien to be remanded to federal custody at the completion of their county sentence.”
Federal officials are currently allowed inside county jails to perform such interviews. Only two officials represent the entire county system, however, limiting how many interviews they can do. The agreement approved this week would free up six sheriff's personnel for that work.
Exactly when the interviews will be conducted was of special interest to the board. Initially, the agreement called for inmates to be interviewed after arraignment. But the board eventually backed a change proposed by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who said interviews should only take place for those inmates who are convicted. It was not clear how appeals would factor into the decision of whether to conduct an interview.
“I don't want to see anyone deported who has been acquitted for a crime, even if they are here illegally,” Yaroslavsky said. “But I have no sympathy for aliens who do commit crimes.”
Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke opposed the agreement between the county and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They argued the pact was of little benefit to the county and potentially harmful to civil liberties.
Burke said she heard the impetus behind the agreement was a desire by federal officials to collect data on every foreign-born inmate — guilty or innocent — before a court could release them.
Sheriff Baca’s representative, Chuck Jackson, did not confirm what Burke heard, nor did he have an answer when Burke asked him, “What if (foreign-born inmates) don't want to answer questions?”
Speakers at the hearing, more than two dozen voiced opposition to the action. Immigrant rights activists and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) protested the decision the following day outside the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in Los Angeles.
“We believe this is a first step in the wrong direction because we think it will lead to a further blurring of the line between local law enforcement and the federal immigration authority,” said CHIRLA's Alvaro Huerta.
Huerta said it has taken community organizations a long time to gain the confidence of undocumented immigrants, who previously refused to report violent crimes for fear of possible deportation.
“People are going to be afraid to really speak about it and come out to local authorities if they feel that they or a loved one could be deported if they speak out,” he said.
Earlier this week, Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) said that his group would urge Latinos not to cooperate with sheriffs or to support any tax increase to pay for the hiring of more police officers if the proposal was approved.
“We will launch a broad intensive campaign in the Latino community to not cooperate with the local police under any circumstances — to report crime, come forward as witnesses, provide information, attend police-community events — if this proposed MOU is approved by the L.A. County Supervisors,” said Lopez.
Sheriff Lee Baca, who supported the motion, has said that he is not interested in enforcing immigration laws; he instead wants to identify and prosecute criminals.
The supervisors will revisit the issue in six months, when the federal government will announce whether it intends to fund the training and interviews in its next fiscal year. Federal funds held by the sheriff's department will fuel the program during its pilot period.
Related Stories:
Don't Pee in Public: Petty Crimes Can Get Immigrants Deported
California Debates Sending Foreign-Born Inmates Back Home
Patriot Act, CLEAR Act Pose Problems for Immigrants
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