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 Post subject: Allen County Sheriff signs up for 287g
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:03 am 
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Suggestion: People living in the Ft. Wayne area can forward this story to their state senators along with a request to vote for SB 335 in the 2008 General Assembly.

The Allen Co. Sheriff needs help in order to return your area to the rule of law. He can apply for 287g on his own. This will help but passing SB 335 will mean even more law enforcement officers around Indiana will also be enforcing immigration law which means illegals are less likely to settle in our state.

If you live in NE Indiana, please help us out by posting immigration-related articles on the IFIRE forum.

The News Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN), January 23, 2008
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs. ... /801230325

Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries wants to give some of his officers extra arrest powers when it comes to enforcing immigration violations against certain immigrants here illegally.

Fries wants at least 10 of his officers -- and possibly up to 20 -- from both the traffic and confinement divisions to enter into a program dubbed 287(g) and conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The program would give those officers the power to arrest people for immigration violations if they are also charged with serious felonies or driving while intoxicated.

The arrest powers could be used only in those officers' normal course of duty, according to ICE regulations. Fries said it would apply to all illegal immigrants. According to Fries, he feels the program would be backed by anyone who was here legally, including immigrants.

'There's a right way to come here,' Fries said.

It's a move that at least one prominent man in the Hispanic community feels needs more study before being carried out, lest it lead to profiling and fear in the local community.

'Something needs to be done,' said Fries of illegal immigration. 'Is this the answer to our prayers? No. It's a start. That's what we need -- a start. '

But Max Montesino, an associate professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne who has acted as a leader in the local Hispanic community, wrote to The News-Sentinel that similar attempts nationwide have created a very 'adverse atmosphere' for immigrants, which has driven away taxpayers and businesses and created 'great confusion among minorities and immigrants that fear to report crimes to the authorities ... erasing the progress made by law-enforcing agencies in terms of community.'

'It seems to me that the (sheriff) has not analyzed carefully the pros and cons of a decision of this magnitude,' Montesino wrote in the comments. 'I strongly suggest that the sheriff consult business owners, immigrant leaders, experts in public safety, and others.'

Currently, federal law-enforcement agencies are the main institutions that have the power to enforce immigration violations. As of September, only 28 state-run law enforcement agencies have entered into such a program with ICE that Fries wants to implement. The Allen County Sheriff's Department would be the first in Indiana.

According to the ICE Web site, 485 officers have been trained in similar agreements between the federal agency and state-run law-enforcement agencies, and 25,000 arrests have been made.

The start of the program is roughly a year away, at least, Fries said, which is just one of the frustrations he has with the program.

He was hoping the program could give his officers the power to arrest any illegal immigrant on immigration violations, whether they're charged with a crime or not, but said 'that won't happen' and that he has shared his concerns with ICE.

'I don't blame ICE. They do what they can with what they've got,' said Fries, who placed much of the blame for the perceived problem with immigration on other parts of the federal government. 'Until the federal government sees this as a priority, our hands are tied.'

Montesino questioned the 'magnitude' of immigration problems locally, and whether Fries has 'hired officers from the minority communities who are culturally competent, so that his office avoids the racial profiling and harassment of immigrants that have happened in other localities across the country where this approach has been tried.'

Fries could not put a number on how many illegal immigrants were currently in the Allen County Jail, saying any guess would be just that because there is no way for jail officials to determine if someone is here illegally.

The ICE program would change that, he said, adding that currently all suspects booked into the jail are asked what country they are from and whether they are in the country legally, as a way to get a start on estimates. In September, 46 people admitted to being here illegally, the highest of all months since the tally began in August, according to Jail Commander Charles Hart.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:54 pm 
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Greg posted an Editorial from the News-Sentinel in our discussion section. The editors support the sheriff's actions! Make sure they know we're behind them and encourage them to contact their senators to ask them to vote for SB 335.


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