Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/11829
8A – Daily News – Friday, June 11, 2010 Jailed illegal immigrants are policy dilemma WASHINGT ON (MCT) — Mwenda Murithi, the Kenyan- born leader of a notori- ous Chicago street gang, was arrested 26 times after his student visa was revoked in 2003. Charged with at least four felonies, he served 30 days in the Cook County Jail for a 2007 drug violation. By law, he could have been deported immediately. But Chicago officials did not report him to immigration authorities because city and county ordinances prohibit them from doing so. Not long after he got out of jail, Murithi ordered a gang hit that resulted in the death of 13-year-old Schanna Gayden, struck by a stray bullet as she frol- icked at a playground. Murithi, now serving 55 years, is just the sort of person U.S. immigra- tion officials say they want to target under a program known as Secure Communities, which seeks to match the fingerprints of everyone booked into jail against immigration databases. But the program, launched by the Bush administration and con- tinued under President Barack Obama, has become entangled in the suspicions and recrimi- nations that characterize the debate over immi- gration policy. Critics of the pro- gram say that turning illegal immigrants over to federal authorities would undermine the efforts of local law enforcement to win cooperation from immi- grant communities. And they worry about pro- viding immigration authorities with the fin- gerprints of those arrested on petty charges. "I'll be reporting minor offenders, misde- meanants, people who are arrested on a traffic fine that they fail to pay," San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hen- nessey said. "I think that this throws too broad of a net out over the resi- dents of my county." David Venturella, who runs the program for the U.S. Immigra- tion and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE, said minor viola- tors were not a priority unless they also had more serious criminal histories. "Our focus is on criminal aliens," he said. Many major city police agencies forbid officers from inquiring into the immigration status of witnesses and suspects, a policy adopt- ed by local officials to shield illegal immi- grants from federal authorities. But the Secure Communities program has divided those cities and the politicians within them. Houston and Los Angeles are participat- ing in the fingerprint sharing program despite such rules, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom opposes the efforts of the sheriff and some county supervi- sors to keep his city out of it. The federal program was designed to assuage such cities, Venturella said, because it doesn't require their active cooperation. The finger- prints are shared auto- matically, and ICE offi- cers arrest those they intend to deport. This arrangement stands in contrast to a more active federal- local effort known as the 287(g) program, under which ICE signs agreements that allow local police to arrest and MCT photo In this June 25, 2007 photograph, Rita Sallie, facing camera, is consoled by her daughter Joyce Sallie as dozens of community residents from the area around Armitage and Central Park Avenues in Chicago, Ill., gathered to memorialize Rita Sallie's daughter Schanna Gayden, a teen who was shot and killed in the area. detain people under immigration laws. Few big cities participate in that program. Still, out of political sensitivity, ICE current- ly is not matching fin- gerprints from counties, such as Cook County, that object to the Secure Communities program, he said. Secure Communities is operating in 193 counties, and ICE has checked 2.2 million sets of fingerprints submit- ted by local law enforcement agencies, spokeswoman Randi Greenberg said. Through April 30, there were 216,000 hits against a database of people who previously had been fingerprinted by ICE, she said. Of that number, 24,000 had been charged with or convict- ed of what ICE classi- fies as the most serious offenses, including rape, murder and kid- Pick a Rib with Us Daily Specials Jack the Ribber All you can eat ribs $ Friday Night Rib Dinners 1400 1150 Monroe St. 527-6108 napping. The remainder involved lesser offenses, ranging from bribery and fraud to petty viola- tions, such as gambling. ICE deported 6,100 of those charged with or convicted of the most serious offenses, and 14,300 who were charged with or convict- ed of lesser offenses, she said. The goal is to expand the program nationwide by the end of 2012. Despite Venturella's assertion that ICE won't focus on people charged with lesser offenses, immigration rights activists aren't so sure. "We think it's an ill- conceived, ill-function- ing program," said Joan Friedland, a senior attorney with the National Immigration Law Center. "Regardless of how or why a person got into police custody, whether it was based on racial profiling, whether it was a minor offense, whether the person is found not guilty, they are subject to deporta- tion." Friedland said she would be more comfort- able with referrals based on convictions, not arrests. In Cook County, authorities can do nei- ther. While the policies in Los Angeles and other cities allow police to notify immigration authorities about felons they suspect are illegal immigrants, Cook County forbids that, said Steve Patterson, a spokesman for the Sher- iff's Office. Asked why, Chicago Alderman Roberto Mal- donado argued that the law did allow the report- ing of felons to immi- gration authorities. "We're not protecting criminals," he said. The text of the law, however, contains no such provision. Asked about the case of the Kenyan gang leader, Maldonado noted that ICE, the immigration enforce- ment agency, routinely peruses county arrest reports. "If ICE didn't have their eyes open, that is not our fault," he said. In Los Angeles, a case in 2008 re-ener- gized a long-standing debate about the city's policy toward police questioning of immi- grants. Jamiel Shaw II, a 17- year-old football star who had been recruited by Stanford and Rutgers universities, was gunned down in March 2008, allegedly by gang mem- ber Pedro Espinoza. Espinoza, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant, had been released from the Los Angeles County Jail a day before the shoot- ing after serving time on a gun charge. Although Espinoza had been in the custody of the sheriff, not the Los Angeles Police Department, activists unsuccessfully sought to use the case to over- turn Special Order 40, the LAPD rule that lim- its the circumstances in which officers may inquire into a person's immigration status. An effort to repeal the poli- cy by referendum failed last year when backers couldn't muster enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. Unlike in Chicago, nothing prohibits Los Angeles police officers from referring people they arrest to immigra- tion authorities, said Jorge Villegas, com- mander of the LAPD operations office. If police arrest a gang member who has already been deported, for example, officers notify ICE, Villegas said. Obscenities-laden jury summons gets man in trouble YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona man who bluntly expressed his dis- pleasure about being called to jury duty has landed himself in legal hot water. Timothy Michael Jones was ordered to appear Tuesday in court to explain why he sent back a jury questionnaire with obscenities written in black marker. He failed to show and Yuma County Superior Court Judge Andrew Gould issued a bench warrant. Jones now faces a charge of indirect criminal con- tempt, which carries pos- sible penalties of six months in jail and a fine of up to $300. Court records show Jones was sent a jury summons last month telling him he had been randomly selected as a prospective juror along with the questionnaire. ——— Information from: The Sun, http://www.yuma- sun.com Health, Life, Auto, Home, Commercial, Professional Liability Free phone quotes 530-824-9900 Farmers’ Market 2010 GET YOUR FRESH LOCALLY GROWN PRODUCE HERE... Red Bluff City River Park Every Saturday 8am to Noon Sponsored by RB/TC Chamber of Commerce Monday-Friday 9-5 1610 Solano St. #B Corning Lic.#0C37035 Mon.-Fri. 10:30 to 5:30 Sat. 11-3 40 Crafters in 1 Shop! 650 Main St., Red Bluff 530 528-2723 Come & Shop Crafter’s Boutique Or Rent a Space to Sell Your Crafts Gifts for family & friends Plenty of parking on Pine Street BOOK BARN Used Books Tues-Fri 10-5 Sat 10-2 Serving Tehama County since 1994 619 Oak St., Red Bluff (530) 528-2665