Police Seek Help in Criminal Deportation (original) (raw)

Feb. 24, 2008

LAST summer the Suffern police arrested a 17-year-old illegal immigrant after he was found peeping into a girls’ bathroom at the village recreation center.

The teenager spent about a month in the Rockland County Jail after pleading guilty to trespassing and weapons possession charges (he had a switchblade knife) and was released for time served, Chief Clarke Osborn said. The next day, he was arrested again and charged with burglarizing a car wash.

In the future, an illegal immigrant charged with a crime in Suffern might not still be around, if the village completes plans to join what is known as a 287 (g) partnership with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency known as ICE. “If we were dealing with 287 (g) after the first incident,” Chief Osborn said of the 17-year-old arrested last summer, “we could have filed deportation papers immediately.”

Suffern and Brewster are looking to join the 287 (g) partnership, which allows local law enforcement officers to work essentially as ICE agents and file immigration violation charges.

Since 287 (g) began in 2002, 630 officers from 37 jurisdictions nationwide have been trained, but the program has been criticized.

Protesters rallied when the Common Council in Danbury, Conn., approved a measure this month to seek a 287 (g) partnership. When Morristown, N.J., endorsed a 287 (g) bid last April, opponents presented petitions with more than 3,000 signatures.

Gail Golden, co-chairwoman of the Rockland Immigration Coalition, said that if the local police become partners with ICE agents, immigrants would be afraid to go to the police.

“Battered women will be afraid to call the police, people who know that there are drugs sold in their neighborhood won’t call,” she said. “People who feel there is gang activity won’t call.”

In New York, the plans have hit a snag. To participate in 287 (g), local departments need to be in partnership with a facility like a county jail to hold detainees. But the State Commission of Correction told Rockland County in a January legal opinion that state law prevents county jails from accepting immigration detainees presented by local officers.

Steven C. Mannion, a lawyer hired by Suffern to handle its 287 (g) application, said he had asked the state to reconsider its opinion. He also said local officers could process detention paperwork but a supervising ICE officer could make the actual commitment to the county jail.

As for concerns raised by immigrant groups, Mr. Mannion said the program was aimed at serious criminals. “We’re not going to be going after landscapers and nannies and people who are otherwise law abiding,” he said.

The village is looking to train about a half-dozen officers, hopefully by the end of the summer, Mr. Mannion said. Under a 287 (g) program, illegal immigrants can face deportation if they are already charged with a crime, Mr. Mannion said. Additionally, when police officers encounter illegal immigrants in arrests and traffic stops, they will see if the person has any convictions. If not, deportation will not be pursued, Mr. Mannion said.

Local officers trained under 287 (g) learn how to avoid racial profiling and how to use ICE and Homeland Security Department databases to find out a person’s immigration status, said Richard Rocha, an immigration agency spokesman. Since 2006 local officers have identified more than 42,000 people for possible immigration violations. On average, those identified under 287 (g) are held locally for two weeks to 60 days and a maximum of 120 days, Mr. Mannion said.

The issue of where to house detainees is one that Assemblyman Greg Ball, a Republican from Carmel, wants to address. He will conduct a symposium about 287 (g) in April, inviting law enforcement officers from counties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Illegal immigrants like the one in Suffern are not always automatically deported despite criminal charges, Chief Osborn said. ICE gets directly involved only in very serious crimes, jails often do not have room to house deportation detainees and some cases fall through the cracks, he said.

“That’s one of the reasons we’re looking to do it so we can step up and give ICE a hand,” Chief Osborn said.

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