Police to Congress: We Can’t Clean Up Your Mess. “Step Up” and Pass Immigration Reform

America's Voice Blog

Posted 02/26/10 at 01:40pm

When the federal government doesn't act on immigration, local communities feel the pain. Cops, in particular, have come forward to acknowledge that the strain of the broken system is making it harder for them to do their crucial jobs -- to fight crime, day in and day out.

So it makes sense that, this week, police chiefs across the country have been sending Congress a simple message (though they're too polite to put it this way): grow up, take some responsibility, and pass immigration reform that makes all of us safer.

That was the prevailing sentiment from Chief Lisa Womack of Elgin, IL; Sheriff Richard Wiles of El Paso, TX; and Chief Sam Granato of Yakima, WA, when they participated in a telephonic press conference yesterday sponsored by the Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative (LEEI). They called on President Obama and Congress to (in Chief Granato's words) "step up to the plate" on reform. Meanwhile, Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran told the Chicago Tribune that he supports comprehensive immigration reform, calling it "morally the right thing to do." The Tribune writes:

Curran argued that legalization would make it easier for potential witnesses to come forward during police investigations. "They're going to be patriotic Americans," he said.

Undocumented residents' reluctance to notify police when they are witnesses or victims of crime has been a constant frustration of the law enforcement community as they call on Congress to clean up its mess, and it was a theme of yesterday's LEEI call as well.

"What we see is people afraid to step out of the shadows to report a crime or be a witness," Chief Granato said, as reported in the Yakima Herald Republic.

This is just one reason, the chiefs argued, why the anti-immigrant groups in their communities who want local police to be aggressive in enforcing federal immigration law are wrong. For one thing, Sheriff Wiles pointed out, he wouldn't even know where to start:

Wiles questioned how local police would even identify illegal immigrants.

"I would guess maybe the color of their skin. That's certainly not appropriate, it's not ethical and it's a violation of Texas law," he said.

And as Chief Granato said, resources spent fighting immigrants are resources that could be spent fighting crime:

"We would very quickly fill up our jails with illegal immigrants, and where would the real criminals be?" he said.

But most importantly, immigration law is a federal responsibility, and so is immigration reform. The Chicago Daily Herald quoted Chief Womack, who came to Elgin from Sugarland, TX:"If there were a local solution to this issue...the border states would have already figured it out. In my opinion, there is not a local solution." The call's moderator, former Sacramento police chief and LEEI Director Arturo Venegas, put it simply to the Courier News:

"We do not ask the federal government to handle the calls for service in our local community," he said. "And we for sure as heck do not have the resources to handle, in essence, the federal responsibility in immigration."

In an immigration debate that so often dissolves into the immigrant blame game, it's good to hear some adult voices. Congress, you heard the nice policemen: Go clean up your mess!