Driving privilege: Utah should not repeal cards for undocumented drivers
Tribune Editorial 02/02/2008 09:39:19 AM MST
In 2005, the Utah Legislature decided that this state would no longer issue driver licenses to undocumented aliens. The reason was security. The Congress had passed a bill to prevent the states from providing driver licenses to undocumented people who then could use them as identification to travel on airplanes, for example.
But at the same time, state lawmakers wisely decided to issue driving privilege cards to undocumented people. The cards could not be used as official government identification, but they would entitle people to drive legally and obtain insurance.
This compromise made sense because it encouraged undocumented folks to pass the state driver test and buy insurance, making all people who use Utah roads safer.
Now, however, Utah lawmakers who oppose illegal immigration are pushing to repeal the law that created driving privilege cards in the mistaken belief that it would discourage illegal immigration.
The answer to illegal immigration is comprehensive reform by the federal government, not a repeal of driving privilege cards in Utah. All the latter would do is remove the incentive for undocumented aliens to take driver training and buy insurance. In short, it would kill an important highway safety measure.
Undocumented immigrants will continue to come to Utah so long as jobs and the hope for a better economic future draw them here. Employment, not the driving privilege card, is the magnet.
While they are here, they will drive, legally or not. Utah is better off to encourage legal driving.
A report this month from the Legislative Auditor General shows that driving privilege cards are working as the Legislature intended.
Auditors sampled 3,461 of the cards and found that 76 percent of the people who had them also had insurance. By comparison, 82 percent of a similar sample of people who had full-fledged Utah driver licenses also had insurance.
In other words, the people with driving privilege cards are obeying the law and the insurance requirement at about the same rate as those with driver licenses. That's a good thing.
Take away the cards, and undocumented people will continue to drive. They'll just do it illegally. And without insurance. Why would Utahns want to encourage that?
This message has been edited. Last edited by: explora,
Driving privilege: Utah should not repeal cards for undocumented drivers
Tribune Editorial 02/02/2008 09:39:19 AM MST
... In other words, the people with driving privilege cards are obeying the law and the insurance requirement at about the same rate as those with driver licenses. That's a good thing.
Take away the cards, and undocumented people will continue to drive. They'll just do it illegally. And without insurance. Why would Utahns want to encourage that?
Good question! that should be thrown to all state legislatures all over America.
This is by far the most sensible and rational way there is to "bridge the wide disconnect" between the federal government's failure to address illegal immigration and every state's day-to-day realities living with it.
Thanks for sharing, Explora.
________________________________________________________________________ "Our task now is not to fix the blame for the past, but to fix the course for the future." JFK
ICE detention can come with costs as well as benefits
By Daniel Jackson Gaston Gazette February 3, 2008 - 7:07PM
State Rep. Wil Neumann said he has financing and a development team lined up to build an immigration detention center in Gaston County, if the proposed facility is approved. But he may have to get in line.
Already private building consultants and developers from other parts of the country are calling to express an interest in building the facility, said County Manager Jan Winters.
“We’ve had a lot of calls from consultants, but there is a lot more we have to figure out before we start building,” Winters said. If it is the 1,500 bed facility that’s been bantered about, that’s an injection of an awful lot of money into this local economy.”
The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has tapped Gaston County as a potential site for an ICE detention center that could house as many as 1,500 detainees and employ hundreds locally. Federal officials were looking at Mecklenburg County, but switched their sights to Gaston County.
County officials say they know little about the proposed project, but they are in contact with ICE, Winters said.
Privately built, publicly managed Neumann, R-Gaston, said he is approaching the project as a private developer with Hawkeye Enterprises, LLC. If approved, Neumann said he’d build the facility and then lease it back to the county. The Gaston County Sheriff’s Office would manage the facility and pay the lease, using federal dollars, Neumann said.
Both Neumann and Winters said the proposed detention center would benefit the county with jobs and spending at a time when the nation appears on the verge — or perhaps already in the grips — of recession.
“We’ve got to recruit industry,” Neumann said. “I’m working on this as a private developer, trying to bring jobs to Gaston County. With these projects, time is always of the essence. They don’t (ICE doesn’t) ever go in and build them.”
According to its Web site, ICE operates about 16 detention and processing centers nationwide. But there are groups locally that oppose the detention center and question if the project would truly be good for Gaston County’s economy in the long term. Could ‘prison’ image hurt economy?
All ICE detention centers are under close scrutiny and some have been criticized for the conditions of incarceration, including detainee abuse, inadequate medical care, poor access to legal counsel, and detainees and political refugees being locked up for months and years without due process.
If the facility comes with an image problem, it could hurt the county’s efforts at industrial recruitment and economic development long-term, according to Father Les Schmidt, a Catholic priest and consultant with Grassroots Leadership. The Charlotte-based non-profit is opposed to prisons being managed by private operators like Corrections Corporation of America, which also manages detention facilities for ICE in other states.
“The kind of corporations and other businesses that Gaston County most wants to attract aren’t going to look kindly on the idea of locating in a prison county,” Schmidt said in a prepared statement.
In North Carolina, state law requires that the county sheriff manage all pre-trial jails and detention centers.
Profiting from detainees Winters and Neumann said a lot of the problems at other facilities have arisen out of poor conditions in the facilities and mistreatment of detainees. Those problems haven’t been an issue at the Gaston County Jail under Cloninger’s watch, they said.
Schmidt said he’s heard good things about Cloninger, but he warned Gaston County that a system that treats illegal immigrants like “units of profit” could lead to a denial of their human dignity. The county would receive funding from the federal government based on the number of detainees housed in the jail.
Rebecca Headen, a spokeswoman with the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, said racial profiling is already an issue. Sometimes people are detained for prolonged periods of time, even if they aren’t a danger or a flight risk. Some detainees turn out to have legal status, she said.
“When these things are built, there is a tendency to fill them up,” Headen said. “People hear about jobs and buying power but not so much about the baggage.”
Headen said the ACLU promotes alternatives to detention, when appropriate, including electronic monitoring or release on a secured bond.
Officials praise Gaston jail Winters said Gaston County officials plan to visit detention facilities in other parts of the country to learn more about similar projects and find out if the project is right for Gaston County.
At this point, the county doesn’t even know how large the facility would be or where it would be located. There is room for expansion of the county jail, but Winters and Cloninger said they aren’t sure that site would work.
Local leaders can’t decide how the federal government chooses to deal with illegal immigrants, Winters said. The county’s responsibility in taking on the detention center would be to manage it properly and take adequate care of detainees.
“We haven’t had issues associated with operation of that jail and we’re real proud of that,” Winters said. “Any jail operation needs to withstand scrutiny. You’ve got control over other peoples’ lives, you better be managing it properly.”
Neumann said the state should better enforce immigration laws. In Gaston County, voters are concerned about immigration issues and opposition to the facility would likely come from outside of the area, Neumann said.
“I still believe you’d have to import someone that would want to demonstrate against it,” he said.
Facility that could occupy former sheriff's office boot camp would include office space, cells to hold immigrants for interviews
BY JOSE DE WIT Correspondent Sunday, February 3, 2008
STUART — Federal officials are looking to locate an immigration facility in Stuart, and a decision on whether to use the site of the former Martin County Sheriff's Office boot camp will take at least several weeks, if not months to determine.
Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder would like the county to turn over the former boot camp at the sheriff's compound on Monterey Road to the U.S. General Services Administration, which is looking for a facility for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Stuart.
But because the facility consists of state-owned buildings on county land, state agencies like the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Services have the first opportunity to use the facility.
"The Department of Juvenile Justice is supposedly within weeks of coming up with a plan, which would probably be approved by the County Commission," Crowder said. "But according to our lease agreement, if the state can't come up with a suitable plan, the county can buy the buildings back at their depreciated value, and we could give them to (immigration and customs)."
Crowder said he has warned state officials he opposes plans for a statewide mental health program for girls, and instead prefers a program that helps local youth.
If the property becomes a juvenile facility, alternative locations for an Immigration and Customs Enformcent (ICE) facility could include other county buildings or private land purchased by the federal government.
Sean Teeling, assistant field office director for ICE in Miami, said the agency is looking for space in Stuart for its Criminal Alien Program and Fugitive Operations teams, which share office space with other ICE programs in Fort Pierce and West Palm Beach.
The Criminal Alien Program team interviews immigrants detained by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and determines whether they should be deported. The Fugitive Operations team tracks down immigrants who have failed to leave the country after being deported.
In addition to office space, the proposed ICE facility in Stuart would include cells to hold immigrants while they are being interviewed and processed, but it would not house detainees overnight, Teeling said.
The facility would work hand in hand with a plan by Congressman Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, to obtain federal dollars to finance overtime pay for deputies to patrol the coastline for incoming illegal immigrants.
"ICE needs facilities to keep (apprehended illegal immigrants)," Crowder said. "As things are right now, they'll only take individuals if they've committed a major crime. If it's a minor crime, we're usually stuck with them, and more often than not, they end up back in the community."
Crowder also said having a nearby immigration facility would help immigrants trying to follow the process to become legal residents.
Local immigration attorney Marisol Zequeira agreed helping immigrants trying to follow the legal process is the best solution to the area's immigration problem but called the notion that an ICE facility would help do that "misinformed."
"If (that's) what (Crowder is) proposing it wouldn't be an ICE facility, it would be U.S. Customs and Immigration Services," which is the federal agency that handles immigrants' applications, Zequeira said. "An ICE facility means a detention center. ICE doesn't provide services to the public, they're only charged with enforcement. The only thing that would do for immigrants trying to do the right thing is bring them one step closer to deportation."
Zequeira also called the plan an unjustified expense, saying not enough illegal immigrants land ashore on the Treasure Coast to justify such a taxpayer expense.
Proposal would make it harder to hire immigrants, thus curbing influx
By NOELLE PHILLIPS - nophillips@thestate.com Posted on Sun, Feb. 03, 2008
Immigrants — legal or illegal — often move to South Carolina for one reason: To work.
Lawmakers want to create laws that would put pressure on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. If the law makes it hard for businesses to hire illegal immigrants, lawmakers believe fewer will move to the state or some possibly will leave.
Last week, the House approved a 15-point immigration package that has four measures that would affect businesses. That bill now returns to the Senate, which already approved a similar version.
However, some lawmakers have argued the bills would do little to reduce S.C.’s illegal immigrant population. State Rep. Joe Neal, D-Richland, argued on the House floor that the proposed penalties are not severe enough to curb businesses’ hiring practices.
“What we’re doing is creating a stick to beat the public with while at the same time we’re protecting the businesses who are knowingly employing illegal immigrants,” Neal said.
Meanwhile, businesses and their attorneys are trying to figure out exactly what the potential new law would require and how they will comply.
“The whole thing is so complicated,” David Gantt, owner of Springdale Outdoor, said with a groan. “I don’t know what to say about it.”
Here are the nuts and bolts of the pending legislation that would affect businesses.
ELECTRONIC VERIFICATION
What it would do: Require businesses working under state and local government contracts to participate in a federal program that electronically verifies employees’ names and social security numbers. An S.C. driver’s license would also be accepted proof of legal status.
Cost: It’s free but registration requires an online tutorial.
Penalties: Violators would forfeit 5 percent of the contract. And, if allegations are made that a company is not complying with the law, the business would have five days to sign an affidavit saying it had complied.
Pros: Government agencies would have reasonable assurance they were not doing business with companies that hire illegal immigrants.
Cons: The law does not require governments to audit or independently verify a contractor’s compliance with the law. Plus, the federal system is not perfect. It has a 25 percent error rate, said Fred Manning, an attorney with the Columbia firm Fisher and Phillips. The system detects only mismatched names and Social Security numbers. It would not catch stolen names and numbers that belong together.
TAX DEDUCTIONS
What it does: Anyone paying illegal immigrants could not deduct those employees’ wages as business expenses on business’s S.C. income tax return. The law would include businesses that issue 1099 forms to independent contractors.
Cost: Unknown. The S.C. Department of Revenue would have to decide how it would regulate and enforce this requirement.
Penalties: Businesses are not penalized if they made reasonable efforts to determine an employee’s legal status. No penalties for intentional violators are spelled out in the bill.
Pros: Businesses would lose a tax benefit if they knowingly hired illegal immigrants.
Cons: Most businesses comply with federal tax law and, therefore, would be in compliance with the state. No business will admit to hiring illegal immigrants. At Columbia Farms chicken processing plant, workers have provided documentation required by federal law, said David Rush, assistant complex manager. “Taxes are being withheld,” Rush said. “Federal, state and Social Security. When you’re as big as we are you have to operate within the law to the best of your ability.” But businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants, pay cash and do not file taxes already are breaking the law — why would they comply?
WITHHOLDING TAXES
What it does: A business that employs illegal immigrants must withhold 6 percent of those employees’ wages as state income taxes. It would include those who use 1099 forms for independent contractors.
Costs: Once again, the S.C. Department of Revenue would have to figure out how to administer and enforce the law.
Pros: The state could receive income taxes from workers who have been skirting the law.
Cons: Again, businesses owners who already are breaking the law most likely won’t change.
CIVIL LAWSUITS
What it does: An employee who was fired from a job would be able to sue his employer if an illegal immigrant was retained on the job or hired to replace the worker. Lawsuit damages would be limited so that a former worker could only get his job back and claim lost wages.
Costs: Would create legal fees for businesses.
Pros: Companies would be discouraged from hiring illegal immigrants to replace legal workers for cheaper wages.
Cons: This provision would create more litigation and cause a ripple effect in the state, Manning said. South Carolina is a right-to-work state, meaning a company can hire and fire at will. However, this measure would force companies to change their policies on hiring and firing people, he said.
(Springfield, Willow Springs, Jefferson City, Rolla, Poplar Bluff, St. Louis, Macon, St. Joseph and Lees Summit, in that order)
ICE ACCESS Summit x 9 in MO
by SOPnewswire Posted 17 hours, 1 minute ago
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding the first of its nine "ICE ACCESS Summits" throughout Missouri starting here Tuesday to educate Highway Patrol and other law enforcement officers statewide about the various partnership programs available through ICE.
More than 500 Missouri Highway Patrol and local law enforcement officers are scheduled to participate in the ICE Summits statewide within the next two weeks. The all-day training sessions will discuss the ICE structure, and especially the ICE programs in ICE's Office of Investigations and its Office of Detention and Removal Operations.
The Summits will be held at Highway Patrol offices in nine Missouri cities including: Springfield, Willow Springs, Jefferson City, Rolla, Poplar Bluff, St. Louis, Macon, St. Joseph and Lees Summit, in that order.
These Missouri Summits were developed in response to the keen interest many Missouri law enforcement agencies have shown in ICE, and how they could partner with ICE to combat local crime.
"All law enforcement agencies have the common goal of combating crime," said Julie L. Myers, ICE Assistant Secretary. "These first-ever ICE Summits will help inform Missouri law enforcement leaders of the many programs ICE has available so we can partner together to accomplish this common but vital goal."
"Missourians welcome legal immigrants, but we will not tolerate illegals who blatantly disobey our laws," said Missouri Governor Matt Blunt. "We must protect Missourians from illegal immigration and prevent crimes like the one that occurred in New Jersey where three promising African-American college students were gunned down by a man who should never have been in our country in the first place, and who was already indicted for sexual assault against a child. These summits will help Missouri law enforcement get the information they need about the ICE programs available to them to help better protect Missourians from the threat of illegal immigration."
"The Missouri State Highway Patrol plays an intricate part in Homeland Security for the State of Missouri, and immigration enforcement is part of that responsibility," stated Colonel James F. Keathley, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. "The security of our nation depends on the cooperation of our federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in combating and preventing crime, and the summits are another step in that direction."
"Missouri's law enforcement community will benefit tremendously from the open dialogue and educational training these summits will offer throughout the state over the next two weeks," said Mark James Director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
Sgt. Jackie Hughes works in the ICE facility at the Gaston County Jail where law enforcement deasl with immigrants both legally and illegally in this country. Here, he takes fingerprints to check against a national database of illegals immigrants.Related Multimedia
Jail program continues to net illegals
By Adam Linhardt gastongazette.com February 3, 2008 - 6:49PM
GASTONIA — Felipe Kofman works with immigrants as a translator and tax counselor to those making the transition to American life.
Last year when Gaston County Sheriff Alan Cloninger announced his office would begin enforcing federal immigration laws, Kofman said most of his clients supported the change, but some worried they could be unfairly targeted.
Last February Cloninger announced alongside U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick that some deputies would be trained so they could charge and detain illegal immigrants. It was up and running by June.
Agents from Immigrant and Customs Enforcement trained the deputies and continue to work with them today, Cloninger said. There are six such deputies working in the program right now.
The right to question the person’s identity
In the six months after the sheriff’s office began the program, Kofman said he doesn’t feel police or deputies are unfairly stopping Hispanics.
“What happens a lot is that people are driving without a driver’s license or proper identification,” Kofman said. “If they’re stopped and they can’t produce an ID then police have the right to question the person’s identity.”
But Kofman said there is concern among the Hispanic community that are in Gaston County legally — with legal identification — that police will take traffic violators to jail regardless of their identification status.
“The concern is that if they have a valid passport their ID should not be in question,” Kofman said. “They should be given a ticket, not taken to jail. Police on the street are not federal agents. If a Canadian jaywalks and shows the police a valid passport, you give him a ticket, you don’t take him to jail.”
But in all, Kofman said the sentiment among immigrants is that the program is a plus because it removes the criminal element that gives legal immigrants a bad name.
How it works
When someone whose identity is in question is charged with a crime and brought to jail deputies can now access a nationwide database in Vermont that contains millions of files, fingerprints and photographs of people who have entered the country illegally.
Those found to be here illegally could he held in the local jail for 72 hours. Federal law mandates they are held without bond. Then they would most likely be transported to an ICE holding facility in Atlanta before being deported to their home country.
Myrick announced this month that a new southeastern immigration detention facially could be headed for Gaston County, but commissioners and Cloninger said that project is only in the discussion stages.
The federal government pays the county $60 for every day the illegal immigrant is held beyond 72 hours, Cloninger said. Payment begins when the state charges against the person have been resolved through the court system.
Mecklenburg County also operates the program.
Successes and challenges
“We’ve processed somewhere in the neighborhood of 360 people from June to December,” Cloninger said. “I think you could call that a success for Gaston County.”
Cloninger worked with Myrick and then Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph to bring the program to Gaston County in February to curb an overflow of illegal immigrants in Gaston County after Mecklenburg County started the program.
“We didn’t want that overflow and I think we we’re successful in preventing that from happening,” Cloninger said.
But he added its impossible to know how many illegal immigrants are in Gaston County. “The federal government doesn’t know how many are in this country,” Cloninger said.
The challenge of the program continues to be keeping deputies trained and qualified people on hand when things like vacation and sick days come up, the sheriff said.
“The challenge has just been the growing pains of utilizing new equipment and working through the learning curve and the manpower issues,” Cloninger said. “Without help from ICE, well their help has been vital. They make sure the processes are right and review our paperwork — they in all those aspects.”
One worker’s opinion
Adan Dominguiez, 38, a textile worker who lives in Gaston County, said he has no problem with the program.
Dominguiez told The Gazette through Kofman who acted as interpreter, “In his mind they realize that people who have problems are those that break the law — the drunkards.”
Kofman said many immigrants don’t get their driver’s license renewed and therefore have no valid identification with them and in turn, may end up being scrutinized at jail.
“Typically, that’s the problem,” Kofman said. “Either they don’t take the time to get a valid license or don’t renew it and find themselves in trouble when they’re pulled over.” Sheriff’s Office data shows that most immigrants that ICE deputies talk to are charged with misdemeanor traffic violations.
“As I’ve said before, if someone is in this country illegally and never commits a crime then it’s nearly impossible for them to be detected,” Cloninger said. “If they are charged with something I feel we have an obligation to identify them and take the appropriate action.”
by: Maria Sisti, Assignment Editor wgrz.com, Updated: 2/4/2008 2:16:00 PM
A routine traffic stop in the *southtowns* has led to the arrest of seven illegal immigrants from Mexico.
The Erie County Sheriff's Department said Deputy Dan Walczak stopped a vehicle carrying three men Sunday night on Gowanda State Road in North Collins.
Border Patrol was called in after the driver could not produce a valid license and his two passengers could not produce a green card or passport.
After being taken into custody by Border Patrol agents, one of the passengers revealed that there were four more illegal immigrants at his home on Route 249. Those four were subsequently arrested.
More Testimony On Illegal Immigration Bill In Frankfort
Lawmakers Debate Immigration Reform
Posted: 6:32 PM Feb 4, 2008 Last Updated: 6:32 PM Feb 4, 2008 Reporter: Phil Pendleton Email Address: phil.pendleton@wkyt.om
There's growing concern in Frankfort that illegal immigrants are crowding Kentucky's jails. That was the focus of testimony Monday on a bill that's designed to curb the flow of illegal residents into Kentucky.
It's a struggle for many in courthouses and jails, when the prisoners speak a language that officials don't understand.
Ernie Lewis heads up Kentucky's public advocacy program in the courts. He has a lot of problems with a bill that's aimed to to slow the flow of illegal immigrants in the state.
Part of the bill targets illegals in jails in order to eventually deport them. But Lewis fears that will cost the courts a lot of money and could even give some officers the incentive to arrest more.
Bob Damron says his bill won't increase racial profiling.
There was testimony Monday that simply using the jails will overload them with illegals. But Damron says it will do just the opposite.
The bill would require the federal officials to be called upon if an inmate says they're not a U.S. Citizen.
Immigration Information Site Prepares to Answer Questions on New Michigan Law Prohibiting Licenses For Illegal Immigrants
Immigration Law Help, a Web site dedicated to providing accurate immigration information, is prepared to answer questions regarding a new Michigan law prohibiting drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants.
Carlsbad, CA (PRWEB) February 6, 2008 -- Immigration Law Help, an online source of immigration news and assistance, is available for anyone who has questions regarding a new driver's license policy going into effect in Michigan on Tuesday. When the policy goes into effect, illegal immigrants will no longer be able to get drivers' licenses in the state.
The Michigan immigration law will require more information for drivers to become licensed, and some legal immigrants who are not permanent residents will also be denied licenses unless the state law is changed.
The new immigration law applies to first-time applicants for Michigan drivers' licenses or identification cards. Applicants will need to provide a Social Security number and proof of their permanent legal residency in the state. This could include a birth certificate, passport or billing statements featuring name and address.
Driver's licenses have been hot immigration news for a while, especially with the upcoming presidential election. The ongoing debate on this issue has left many people confused about what immigration information is accurate, and what is false. Immigration Law Help is available to answer questions and squash misconceptions about any aspect of the current immigration law.
ImmigrationLawHelp.info understands the problems that immigrants face, and they know that immigration to the United States can't and shouldn't be forbidden. They are, however, completely against illegal immigration. Immigration Law Help believes that making as much information available about the immigration law as possible is one way to minimize illegal actions.
ImmigrationLawHelp.info knows that navigating the constantly changing immigration law is not an easy task. The large number of forms that must be filled out, the numerous types of visas and the complicated green card hearings make legal immigration harder. So, their goal is to encourage legal immigration by providing the necessary information, advice and legal counseling when necessary. And their advice is simple: be informed and stay legal.
Federal Officials Arrest 20 Chinese and Mexicans in Quick Immigration Sweep
Posted: 4:31 AM Feb 6, 2008 Last Updated: 4:31 AM Feb 6, 2008 Reporter: Associated Press Email Address: daybreak@wsaw.com
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Federal immigration agents swept through Fond du Lac and West Bend, arresting one woman along with 20 illegal immigrant workers while executing five search warrants.
According to an affidavit, authorities were tipped off in November that the woman and two of her relatives were using illegal immigrants as workers at *Chinese buffet restaurants in Fond du Lac and West Bend*. Those two restaurants and three residences were searched in yesterday's raids.
Gail Montenegro of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department says 57-year-old Kam Yu Cheng of West Bend was taken into custody for harboring illegal immigrants for financial gain.
Of those arrested for immigration violations, *12 were Chinese and eight were Mexican*. Montenegro says the 20 are in ICE's custody and will be placed into deportation proceedings.
The tipster told authorities that the illegal immigrants were forced to work 13 hours daily during the week and 15 hours on weekends, were paid poorly and had no individual means of transportation. Meanwhile, Cheng and her family members had six cars, including a 2004 Lexus and 2006 BMW.
Connecticut City Plans to Team Its Police With Federal Immigration Agents
By JILL P. CAPUZZO NYTimes Published: February 6, 2008
DANBURY, Conn. — When baseball season begins, Mayor Mark D. Boughton will probably throw out the first pitch again for this city’s Dominican baseball team. On Sundays, he sometimes can be found on the sidelines at the soccer games organized by many of the ethnic communities here. And he makes it a point to be at the annual Hajj festival held by the sizable Muslim population.
But on Wednesday night, Mr. Boughton, who governs a city of nearly 80,000 residents — 90,000 when illegal immigrants are included — and the Common Council are expected to approve a plan that would require the local police to work with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in rounding up workers who are in the country illegally.
“The intention is to target criminal aliens,” the mayor said in an interview. “It’s not going to be the horrible thing the opponents think it’s going to be. On the other side, it’s not the sweeps and roundups the far right want it to be.”
During Mr. Boughton’s six years in office, the city has tried to shut down the backyard volleyball games that have became a popular, and sometimes raucous, pastime among the Ecuadorean community. Last year, the Council passed an ordinance requiring a parade permit for gatherings of more than 25 people, a measure that was intended to stop the celebrations that have bubbled up on Main Street when Brazil’s team was in the World Cup soccer tournament.
And in September 2006, undercover police officers assisted federal agents in picking up 11 immigrants in a city park, telling them that they were being taken to a job site. Instead, the workers were arrested and turned over for deportation.
Now comes what is viewed as the most aggressive move yet: a proposal to have Danbury police officers work with federal agents in enforcing the nation’s immigration policies.
While Mayor Boughton said the proposal was brought to him by other Council members, he — like the police chief and the city attorney — has been a vocal supporter of the collaboration with federal agents.
Such arrangements have not always worked out well. Last fall in Greenport, on Long Island, a cooperative effort between federal agents and the local police so enraged Nassau County officials that they threatened to stop working with immigration agents. In a search for gang members, armed squads burst into homes at night, terrorizing families and arresting anyone who lacked identity papers, even if the agents had raided the wrong house.
Danbury is a study in contrasts, which are perhaps most apparent on two streets named for the hills they climb. On Deer Hill Road, expansive homes line both sides of the street where factory owners once lived when this town was known as the “Hatting Capital of the World.” (Danbury turned out five million hats annually at the turn of the 20th century.)
Not far away is Town Hill Avenue, where two-family houses have been converted into four- and five-family residences, evidenced by the multiple satellite dishes that line the rooftops. In 2005, a neighborhood inspection team was formed, in part to ferret out illegal attic and basement apartments that often house dozens of illegal immigrants and are rife with fire code violations. One row of houses is known as “the barracks.”
Below the hills sits a compact city with its Main Street, now mostly home to Brazilian restaurants, ethnic hair salons and Western Union outlets; the growing campus of Western Connecticut State University; a regional airport; one of the country’s busiest shopping malls; and the corporate headquarters of Ethan Allen furniture and Praxair, a manufacturer of industrial gases.
Despite protests from a vocal minority who say that deputizing local officers will lead to racial profiling and the erosion of community trust, the Common Council voted, 19 to 2, in favor of the immigration crackdown in a preliminary decision last month.
“Every single person in Danbury is either an immigrant or the descendant of an immigrant, and yet there is a lot of vitriol against immigration,” said Councilman Paul Rotello, who voted against the proposal. “For all Danbury’s cosmopolitan airs, it really is a working-class place, and nothing is more threatening to the working class than immigration.”
From the city ordinances aimed at immigrant communities to his frequent appearances on the Lou Dobbs and Joe Scarborough television programs, Mr. Boughton has gained a reputation as an official willing to take on the t***** issue of immigration.
Yet the mayor said he did not set out to make it the central theme of his administration. “It’s not my cause,” Mr. Boughton said. “It’s not something I woke up to and said, ‘Let’s take on illegal immigration.’ ”
Al Robinson, whose blog, HatCityBlog.com, is largely devoted to the mayor’s activities, says Mr. Boughton underwent a transformation in 2005 after being criticized by many residents here for proposing a day labor center to stop workers from gathering in Kennedy Park.
“He just didn’t know the level of anti-immigration feeling in the area,” Mr. Robinson said. “It almost seemed like overnight he switched his whole policy from someone interested in helping immigrants to someone who just wanted to enforce immigration law.”
Mayor Boughton said the crackdown is supported by what he calls “the middle 60-70 percent” of the city’s residents. And last year, he received 65 percent of the vote for mayor, giving him a fourth two-year term. He is the city’s longest-serving Republican mayor.
“There’s no question that illegal immigration has a profound impact on the entire community,” Mr. Boughton said. “The expenses, health care, the schools, social service programs, and that’s a direct reflection on the federal government’s failure to get the job done.”
If that is the case, Danbury has its work cut out. According to the Census Bureau’s 2006 population estimates, Danbury has a greater proportion of foreign-born residents than any other city in Connecticut, 34 percent of the population, up from 27 percent in 2000. Statewide, 12.9 percent of the population was born outside the United States.
Mayor Boughton, 43, takes pride in the city, where he can trace his ancestry back 300 years. The men in his family, of English and French Huguenot descent, were carpenters for generations, until his father, Donald, broke the mold and entered politics, serving one term as mayor in the 1970s.
Mark Boughton taught social studies at Danbury High School for 14 years before following his father into politics and winning election to the Connecticut General Assembly, where he served in the House from 1999 to 2001.
As mayor, Mr. Boughton attends three or four social events on most Saturday nights.
The mayor denies claims that his stance against illegal immigration is an attempt to position him for higher office. Still, he said, “if an opportunity arises, obviously I’ll look at it.”
“I have ambitions,” he said. “I wouldn’t want somebody in my position not to have ambitions. But right now, my No. 1 priority is the city, to leave the city better off than what I inherited.”
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