VTMBH Article: Body
The undocumented immigrants in New York may rest easy for now. The Justice Departments proposal to use local police as Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) inspectors is strongly opposed by some in the Justice Department as well as diverse organizations.
Dan Nelson, a Justice Department spokesperson, said the idea is one of the new options that we are considering to enforce immigration laws, as there is a shortage of staff and funds at the INS during this period of increased anti-terrorist security. There are an estimated seven million undocumented immigrants in the United States and only 2,000 INS investigators.
[The measure] is the most anti-immigrant thing Ive ever heard in my life, and it is unconstitutional, said Ruben Quiroz, a member of the Queens-based community group Accion Latina. The 150 ethnic groups that inhabit New York would be most affected, he added.
They want to establish a state of full police control of minorities, said Quiroz, and announced that his organization would be the first one to protest the measures.
In the past, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the New York Police Department rejected attempts to give INS tasks to the 40,000-member NYPD force.
It is an absurd idea, said Anthony Miranda, president of the Latino Police Association. And it betrays the true tasks and priorities of the police force, which are to maintain order, prevent crime and protect citizens.
According to Miranda, the project also entails some conflicts of interest. Agents need to communicate freely with the public they defend. Now, people will think twice before calling the police, fearing they will be questioned by the INS, Miranda said. The best thing to do is hire more [INS] personnel, he said.
The rejection of the Justice Department proposal will depend on regional characteristics, political interests and pressure after September 11th. In Florida, for example, such a measure is part of the multimillion dollar antiterrorist strategy pushed by Gov. Jeb Bush, after that state harbored 13 of the 19 highjackers who crashed planes on September 11th.
Seven other states are considering granting additional powers to police officers. Veronica Tobar of the New York Immigrant Coalition said that the proposal would increase the possibilities of racial profiling in the police department, especially against Hispanics, and would affect the rates of other crime such as domestic violence.
If an undocumented woman is the victim of abuse she will never call the police department, fearing that she will be interrogated and deported, Tobar said. Immigration is the job of federal officials, not local forces, she concluded.
Dan Nelson, a Justice Department spokesperson, said the idea is one of the new options that we are considering to enforce immigration laws, as there is a shortage of staff and funds at the INS during this period of increased anti-terrorist security. There are an estimated seven million undocumented immigrants in the United States and only 2,000 INS investigators.
[The measure] is the most anti-immigrant thing Ive ever heard in my life, and it is unconstitutional, said Ruben Quiroz, a member of the Queens-based community group Accion Latina. The 150 ethnic groups that inhabit New York would be most affected, he added.
They want to establish a state of full police control of minorities, said Quiroz, and announced that his organization would be the first one to protest the measures.
In the past, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the New York Police Department rejected attempts to give INS tasks to the 40,000-member NYPD force.
It is an absurd idea, said Anthony Miranda, president of the Latino Police Association. And it betrays the true tasks and priorities of the police force, which are to maintain order, prevent crime and protect citizens.
According to Miranda, the project also entails some conflicts of interest. Agents need to communicate freely with the public they defend. Now, people will think twice before calling the police, fearing they will be questioned by the INS, Miranda said. The best thing to do is hire more [INS] personnel, he said.
The rejection of the Justice Department proposal will depend on regional characteristics, political interests and pressure after September 11th. In Florida, for example, such a measure is part of the multimillion dollar antiterrorist strategy pushed by Gov. Jeb Bush, after that state harbored 13 of the 19 highjackers who crashed planes on September 11th.
Seven other states are considering granting additional powers to police officers. Veronica Tobar of the New York Immigrant Coalition said that the proposal would increase the possibilities of racial profiling in the police department, especially against Hispanics, and would affect the rates of other crime such as domestic violence.
If an undocumented woman is the victim of abuse she will never call the police department, fearing that she will be interrogated and deported, Tobar said. Immigration is the job of federal officials, not local forces, she concluded.