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June 30, 2009
Exclusive: Why Local Law Enforcement Must Work with Immigration Officials
When it comes to crime and illegal aliens, it is absolutely essential that local law enforcement work in close cooperation with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
I speak from experience, having spent ten years as a senior special agent of the INS assigned to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). I also spent nearly four years as the INS representative assigned to the Unified Intelligence Division (UID) of the DEA in New York. In fact, for about half of the time I was at UID, my immediate supervisor at the DEA was a New York City Police Sergeant. Many of the members of the OCDETF units were city and state police officers. What made these operations so successful could be summed up by one word: synergy.
What is the definition of synergy?
1: synergism; broadly: combined action or operation
2: a mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct business participants or elements (as resources or efforts)
When government officials say that police officers should only inquire about the immigration status of an individual being arrested if it is believed that the person's immigration status is relevant to the investigation frankly causes me to wonder at the qualifications of that "leader" to hold his position of authority.
When a police officer makes an arrest, his first order of business is to attempt to determine the true identity of the person he has arrested. I like to say that when you arrest someone you are not unlike the fisherman who has cast his line and hook into the ocean and has reeled in a fish. The question that remains is, "What fish has he caught?"
This is why when a police officer pulls a car over for a violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law he generally runs the license plates. His immediate concern is to determine if the car is stolen or wanted in conjunction with a crime. He also wants to know if the owner of the vehicle may have outstanding warrants.
The major area of concern is that if the car is stolen or wanted in conjunction with a crime, the driver may pose an immediate threat to the police officer and he may want to call for backup. Vehicle stops are among the most dangerous activities a police officer can engage in. The prudent police officer acts in the most effective manner possible to do his job as effectively and safely as possible.
There are two major reasons for fingerprinting someone when he is arrested: to determine the true identity of the person arrested and to also determine if he is the subject of any outstanding warrants in any jurisdiction.
Because criminals will do anything to escape, include attempt to do bodily harm to the police officer who arrests him, he then searches the person he arrests for weapons and identity documents. He’ll also use handcuffs to further attempt to immobilize the suspect. These steps are prudent and necessary to enable the arresting officer to fulfill his primary obligation – to return home in one piece at the end of his tour of duty that day.
Once a suspect is booked and the paperwork is completed, the next in the process is for the suspect to be brought before a judge or magistrate (in the federal system) to have bail set. The judge determines how high bail should be on the basis of two primary issues: Danger to the community and risk of flight. Presumably, the arresting officer can provide insight into the issue of danger to the community based on the nature of the crime the individual committed and other issues such as weapons possession and previous arrests for various crimes.
Risk of flight may be a bit more nebulous, but I can tell you from my personal experience that often an immigration alien file can prove to be a veritable "treasure trove" of information about the likelihood that an alien my flee. The file may contain information about the individual who has used multiple false names and provided false or even non-existent addresses on previous occasions. An alien who has failed to appear for immigration court proceedings and forfeited immigration bonds has already established a "track record" of being prone to abscond. Aliens who have been previously deported and then returned to the United States illegally provide yet more evidence of risk of flight, as might information in his file about his lack of ties to the community. If the alien in question has filed applications for benefits that turned out to contain fraudulent information also helps to flesh out a clear picture about the credibility of the individual and his risk of flight.
When I was an INS special agent I often attended bail hearings in federal court and also in state court. I was often called upon to provide evidence that was contained in the suspect's immigration file. In fact, a number of federal prosecutors with whom I had worked frequently often asked me to argue bail because I had become intimately familiar with the suspect's immigration history. I did so in approximately two dozen cases and in each and every one of those cases, the bad guy was remanded without bail. This would not have been possible without the vital information contained in those immigration alien files.
So my question is: when would such information not be important to a police officer or a prosecutor in dealing with any alien who is accused of committing a crime?
The problem here is that the politicians who obstruct the enforcement of the immigration laws are grammatically challenged. They can only conjugate verbs in the first person singular. The three most important these politicians think about are "Me, myself and I."
They seek campaign contributions and votes and don't give a damn about anything else.
This is not about being anti-immigrant; it is about making certain that law enforcement is made as effective as possible. There are many reasons that can be articulated that a law enforcement officer may become concerned about the immigration status of an individual he encounters during the performance of his duties. Part of the point of 287(g) training is to provide police officers with an understanding of the immigration laws and the way that those laws can be effectively and fairly enforced.
I spent roughly 26 years as an INS special agent and while I believe I was quite effective in carrying out my duties, I was never accused of "profiling," nor were my colleagues at the INS.
The issue of diversity is raised in the article linked above - all I can say is that I have lived and worked in New York City for my entire life and you will not find a more diverse city anywhere in the United States. Being pro-immigration enforcement does not mean that you are anti-immigrant or anti-diversity. It simply means that you believe that the immigration laws must be enforced effectively because the failure of our nation to secure its borders and effectively enforce and administer the immigration laws have had a huge impact on many of the greatest challenges that confront our nation. Among those issues are national security, criminal justice, the economy, the environment, health care and education.
We have heard so many arguments about what illegal aliens and their supporters want.
When will the time come when the concerns of the citizens of our nation will be taken into account by our elected "representatives?"
Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Mike Cutler is a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a recognized authority who addresses the implications of immigration on national security and criminal justice. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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