Almost two years ago, the City of Danbury applied to join a federal program called ICE ACCESS that would train several police officers in immigration law.
Illegal immigration has been a hot topic in Danbury over the years and this request was not without its controversy.
Advocates are fearful that a program that grants local police such broad immigration authority would be abused and that racial profiling would be the result.
Proponents of the program, myself and Chief Baker included, saw this as an opportunity to have two of our detectives receive extra training in a rapidly expanding and extremely complex field.
We also see value in the access to tools that will help our Police Department identify those who are wanted by authorities in the country that they emigrated from, as well as identify criminals who exploit others in the immigrant community, and it will ensure that people who commit serious crimes in our city and are here illegally are prosecuted and then deported.
A new agreement or MOA has been crafted by the Obama administration.
The purpose of the agreement is to“enhance the safety and security of communities by focusing resources on identifying and processing for removal, criminal aliens who pose a threat to public safety or danger to the community.”
The new MOA prioritizes enforcement action with violent crime being the highest priority.
The MOA also requires that the police pursue the original charges that started the investigation.
This requirement is designed to prevent racial profiling because the arresting agency must follow through on criminal charges hence making it difficult for an agency to engage in frivolous traffic stops based on ethnicity.
Danbury has enjoyed a remarkable run in terms of low crime rates and safety over the last several years. One of the reasons for our exceptionally low crime rate is because our police department has been proactive in its approach.
The ICE partnership is just another tool in our toolbox to ensure that Danbury remains a safe city.
The Mayor once again is trying to defend a program that has been discredited and does the exact opposite of what he is saying.
Giving the police this authority will only prevent a large part of our community from trusting the police and reporting crime and other issues. This will do the city more harm and continue to create a divided community.
Comment by roberthipp — August 17th, 2009 @ 8:21 am
I very much support the concept of the ICE relationship in Danbury and I hope it is able to meet it’s goals. It’s ludicrous to not allow our law enforcement access to data that will help them identify people wanted on serious crimes. I do not not see people complaining about things such as the FBI most wanted list, nor standard PD databases that they can use to determine if someone is wanted. Those who oppose ICE seem to want to afford those here illegally more protection than those who are here legally.
I have empathy for legal immigrants and their fears of being persecuted, we’ve all heard of problems around the country in which they suffered from prejudice as well, but that is no reason to offer have to thousands of lawbreakers.
Frankly I feel that many of the complaints by legal aliens are driven by greed- from those who run retail shops who profit from those who are illegal (because those shops cater to the ethnicity of the illegals), or perhaps those who hire the illegals to save a buck.
If they truly want to to make their lives in this country then I’d like to see the legal immigrants join in and help identify the illegal immigrants, especially those who are of danger. In doing so and eliminating the concern residents have of illegal aliens, the troubles the legal aliens have would diminish.
Many argue “but they are not doing anything “really” illegal. Well, my friends, they break the law the first time they step into the country. As has been pointed out, if this was North Korea, or Iran, well, look what happens to trespassers there. We give our trespassers free hospitalization, they give them 12 years in jail. I’m not saying that we should be so strict, but come on, why in the world do we let illegals flaunt their, well, ‘illegalness’, in our faces ?
Having said that I welcome, very much, legal aliens. I’ve traveled to 2 dozen countries myself and love the variety (you won’t catch me looking for a McDonald’s in Beijing) and I’m always trying new ethnic food here. I just think we need to enforce our laws, especially when not doing so is such a drain on our economy.
Comment by Bob T — August 19th, 2009 @ 5:57 pm