Deportation training lags...

Deportation training lags


Mayors in Waukegan, Carpentersville fume


By Deborah Horan
The Chicago Tribune, May 26, 2008



Months after applying for federal training to deport undocumented immigrants, the mayors of Waukegan and Carpentersville say they suspect the controversial program is plagued by such a lack of funding and political will in Washington that it might never come to their towns.

Neither municipality has heard from the federal agency charged with providing the training, the mayors said, though they applied more than 10 months ago. The Lake County sheriff's office, which applied in December, has received cameras to link the jail to federal immigration courts, but nothing else, Sheriff Mark Curran said.

The lack of action has left the towns in limbo months after they applied for the program and were gripped by protests -- and Waukegan by a brief boycott -- from pro-immigrant groups who feared that the program would discriminate against Latinos.

'It's dead,' Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde said of the program that he favored, known as 287(g). 'My own personal opinion is the [federal authorities] are not going to implement it at all.'

Immigration officials say the program is moving along smoothly, if slowly. Three police forces in North Carolina are being trained this month, said Richard Rocha, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the program.

So far, 47 law-enforcement agencies have implemented it in 17 states, Rocha said. Another 92 applications are pending, including five in Illinois, and proponents say they expect it eventually to be implemented in every town that applies.

'It's proven very successful,' Rocha said.

Touted as an important tool in the fight to curb illegal immigration, the program has been hailed in places such as Alabama, whose state police force received training in 2003. Since then, troopers have begun proceedings to deport 400 undocumented immigrants, said Haran Lowe, assistant attorney general with the Alabama Department of Public Safety.

Dwight D'Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County sheriff's office in Arizona, said a similar program has been instrumental in deporting smugglers caught transporting illegal workers across the border.

The 287(g) certification changes the way local law enforcers handle deportation proceedings against an undocumented person. Without it, the police must call in an immigration official to start the process.

With it, local police can detain an illegal immigrant, start the paperwork to remove him from the country and house him in jail until he is transferred to federal custody -- effectively multiplying the immigration-enforcement force that in some places has been woefully understaffed.

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said he expects the program to be implemented in Illinois, citing broad support for empowering local police to begin the process of deporting convicted felons in the country illegally.

'You not only have support from American voters but also many within the Latino community,' Kirk said.

But some pro-immigration groups see the potential for discrimination and complain that the program creates an atmosphere of fear in towns that have voted for it. The idea that local police might deport illegal immigrants in Waukegan and Carpentersville was enough to send newcomers in search of other places to live, activists said.

'They don't want to even go near the area,' said Jackie Herrera of the Instituto del Progresso Latino, who is active in promoting immigrant causes in Waukegan.

Yolanda Torrez, an attorney, described a client who was afraid to attend traffic court because it was in Waukegan. Miriam Blanca, a homeowner, said the prospect of the police training compelled her to try to sell her house, though the slow housing market forced her to stay put. Herrera said she has had trouble placing Latino women in domestic-violence shelters in Lake County.

'They don't want to go there because of all the rumors they are hearing,' Herrera said.

Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto said the irony is that the 287(g) program, originally passed by Congress as part of a 1996 immigration law, would not empower police to do much more than fill out a few papers when they detain a criminal who turns out to be undocumented.

'I think this is another one of those phony programs that the feds put up there to make people think they are doing something or make people think local government can do something to crack down on illegal immigration,' Sarto said. 'It's more window dressing than anything else.'

The program, however, is flexible in its execution, leaving each law-enforcement agency to decide the scope of enforcement, agency officials said. There are two main types of agreements -- one that empowers police on patrol and one that empowers jailers dealing with convicted criminals. Within those categories, the local agency can limit the circumstances under which a police officer or jailer could begin deportation proceedings -- applying it only to convicted criminals, for instance, or broadening it to include anyone found living in the country illegally.

Carpentersville and Waukegan appear to favor limiting the program to convicted criminals, though they will not make the decision until an agreement is signed with agency officials. Curran, the Lake County sheriff, said jailers there would start the deportation process only against criminals convicted of major felonies.

'We have no interest in deporting people strictly on their [illegal] status alone,' Curran said.

Curran, as well as officials in Waukegan and Carpentersville, said that ultimately, they are more frustrated by the lack of comprehensive immigration reform that has left states and small towns with the burden of enforcement.

'It's a big mess,' said Waukegan Ald. John Balen. 'Guys like me in a little bitty town are trying to solve the problem.'



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