Immigrant Assistance in Crime Fighting

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, both documented and undocumented immigrants have been more afraid of local law enforcement agents and less likely to report crimes. For example, Arab Americans have become more fearful of racial profiling and immigration investigations, according to a two-year study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice.1 Similarly, Latino immigrants became wary after the Bush Administration encouraged local police to enforce federal immigration law and the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would have compelled state and local police to do so.2

When they believe that state or local law enforcement agents are involved in the enforcement of federal immigration law, both documented and undocumented immigrants are hesitant to report crimes or assist police in criminal investigations. As the National Council of La Raza reports, “word will spread like wildfire among newcomers that any contact with police could mean deportation for themselves or their family members. Immigrants will decline to report crimes or suspicious activity, and criminals will see them as easy prey...”3 Criminals who could have been caught remain on the streets—putting all of us at risk of becoming the next victim.

The government’s anti-terrorism initiatives substantially rely on getting residents to report suspicious activity. In fact, immigrants may be the most likely to pick up clues about potential terrorist activity. But many will be less likely to contact police out of fear that their own immigration status will be questioned.4

Local law enforcement agencies rarely have the resources to carry out all the tasks they’ve already been assigned, such as the investigation of violent crimes and pursuit of perpetrators. Under-resourced and under-staffed police departments should not attempt to take on the additional responsibility of enforcing federal immigration law.

Law enforcement agents attempting to identify federal immigration law violators are more likely to look with greater suspicion at certain ethnic groups. Some police officers are bound to stop people based on their apparent ethnicity or accent. Racial profiling is not only a violation of rights, but it further strains the relationship between ethnic groups and police.

There is no bright line between documented and undocumented status. Immigrants can be U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, hold visas in categories A through V, or be an asylee, temporary resident or have temporary protected status. Further, immigrants may transition from one status to another.5 The law is so complicated that federal immigration agents undergo 17 weeks of intensive training before they begin to enforce the law. State and local police simply don’t have sufficient training to get involved in immigration.

Because of federal legislation proposed to compel state and local police to enforce immigration law, most law enforcement organizations have taken a stand on the issue—and they are overwhelmingly against it. Opponents include the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major City Chiefs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum and the Police Foundation.

In 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice reversed its long-held position that state and local police have no authority to enforce most aspects of immigration law. The Department’s new opinion is that local police have “inherent authority” over immigration. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has tried to convince states and localities to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) through which the federal government deputizes local police to enforce immigration law. Alabama, Arizona, Florida and a number of localities have signed MOUs.6

States and localities are not required to enforce federal immigration law and are entirely free to direct their law enforcement officers not to inquire into anyone’s immigration status. That is the law in Alaska and Maine, and it is the policy of police forces in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, the District of Columbia, and many other cities. If adopted, the model Immigrant Assistance in Crime Fighting Act would prohibit both state and local law enforcement agents from inquiring into the immigration status of people who are complainants or witnesses to violations of state or local law.