DHS adjusts priorities for identifying illegal immigrants
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security will rein in a controversial program that deputizes state and local police agencies to enforce federal immigration laws by targeting illegal immigrants who commit major drug or violent crimes, Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.
Civil liberties groups and immigrant advocates have complained that some police officials have engaged in racial profiling, using their authority to conduct indiscriminate traffic stops or neighborhood sweeps aimed at Latinos and other ethnic groups.
Karla Weikal, spokeswoman for the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, said Sheriff Daron Hall was aware the changes were coming, though he doesn't know how they will affect Metro Nashville.
""Sheriff Hall had been saying there needed to be some consistency and across-the-board monitoring to make sure the programs were consistent across jurisdictions,"" Weikal said.
The sheriff's office would have to review the new rules, which it could receive next week, and decide if it would re-enter in an agreement with Homeland Security to continue participating in the program.
""It's going to be dependent on us having to review it, and more important Metro legal reviewing it, but it's a program that Sheriff Hall is extremely interested in continuing,"" she said.
In May, Congress' audit arm faulted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS agency, for improperly supervising the enforcement program. It cited cases in which police arrested illegal immigrants for minor infractions, such as speeding, carrying an open container of alcohol or urinating in public.
ICE officials said 66 participating agencies, which receive federal grant dollars for their participation, will have 90 days to accept new terms or be [drop]ped from the program.
In a statement, Napolitano said the new agreement ""promotes consistency across the board to ensure that all of our state and local law enforcement partners are using the same standards.""
The newly stated purpose of the program is to catch ""criminal aliens who pose a threat to public safety or danger to the community,"" ICE said. The changes set priorities for the identification of illegal immigrants who are convicted of or arrested for, respectively, major drug or violent crimes; then, those involving minor drug or property crimes; and those linked with other crimes.
Critics said the changes will undermine local efforts to help enforce federal immigration laws.This is another example of the administration making it harder to find and deport illegal immigrants,"" said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.
For example, the new rules require that participating agencies commit agents to perform immigration duties for at least two years, undergo background checks, and pursue all charges filed against illegal immigrants to their completion, he said.
ICE can [drop] nonperforming agencies after 90 days and will limit pacts to three-year, renewable terms.
""I am concerned that this is an effort to intimidate law enforcement officials,"" Smith said. ""It is counterproductive to bully them now with this kind of ultimatum.""
ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton disagreed, announcing Friday that 11 new localities have signed up under the new rules.
""It is not something that is withering on the vine,"" Morton said.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090711/NEWS02/907110337/1009/NEWS01/DHS+adjusts+priorities+for+identifying+illegal+immigrants
Be sure to check out the rest of FIRE Coalition at:
http://www.FIRECoalition.comFIRE Coalition Blog:
http://www.FIRECoalition.com/blogFIRE Coailtion Projects:
http://www.FIRECoalition.com/projects
