Law enforcement officials call for immigration reform
By KEN BLACK, TIMES-REPUBLICANIf there is one thing local law enforcement agencies in both cities and counties don't want, it's the responsibility of enforcing immigration laws.
"Law enforcement needs to stay focused on its mission of preventing and investigating crimes, not checking immigration status," said Polk County Sheriff Bill McCarthy, who was one of several law enforcement administrators to participate in a nationwide conference call Thursday.
Jack McAllister, the acting police chief in Marshalltown, agreed with that as well.
"We don't have the authority to enforce immigration laws," he said. "We've got so much work anyway, just enforcing state and local laws, it would be hard to handle immigration."
The police does do some things when it arrests an individual it discovers has fraudulent documents, including contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement to see if they want a hold placed on that individual.
Law enforcement officials who participated in the conference call said the problem with immigration and local law enforcement is multi-faceted and promotes a distrust of local authorities and becomes a strain on resources.
Several mentioned that current immigration policy makes community policing, a strategy of the police and public working together to root out various criminal elements, almost impossible.
McCarthy said immigration reform was needed. That point became much clearer to him at the raids in Postville last year.
"What was accomplished by that?" he said.
He noted the population of the town has gone from 3,600 to 2,000 and that churches now feed between 200 and 400 each night.
Further, he said there were cases were children, days after the raid, would go to the church seeking food because no one had fed them.
McAllister said the situation was not nearly as bad in Marshalltown, after the Swift plant was raided in December 2006.
"In most cases, children had friends and relatives who looked after them if that was needed," he said. "We fielded no calls of children being abandoned after the raids."
Though the law enforcement officials participating in the news conference call did not offer many specifics, all said they were in favor of securing the borders and looking at other matters related to immigration.
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Contact Ken Black at 641-753-6611 or kblack@timesrepublican.com
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Johnny
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10-28-09 3:38 PM
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It's all whitey's fault, but someone else is the racist now....?
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Hsdropout
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10-25-09 4:57 AM
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Gradstudent? LOL How stupid are you? It is the immigrants that are helping corporations drive down wages so they can pad there excessive profits. Because corporations and our government encouraged illegal immigration they created a glut of workers. Which is the reason we are experiencing a 10% unemployment rate. It is people like you that try and sell bull milk for the real deal that is killing our country.
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AverageAmerican
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10-24-09 11:18 PM
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The lazy cops don't want to do it becasue it takes away from donut breaks.
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xgrunt
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10-23-09 9:07 AM
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just because you are rich or have sold your soul doesnt mean you are the person for the job! honest everyday people are what we need to represent honest everyday people. the way things are going with our two party and corrupt system canada is looking pretty good.
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xgrunt
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10-23-09 9:05 AM
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if i couldnt feed my family here and there were good paying jobs in canada i would move there in a minute! we cant blame them for wanting a better life we need to hold the corporations feet to the fire for hiring them.(oh yeah they take jobs white folks wont do) well not for the wage they are getting paid! the rich are getting richer and the rest of us have to pay for all of it. fine the companies $10,000 a head for every illegal they hire up to ten then make it $100,000 for every one after that. hit them in the wallet where it really hurts them. then the rest of us can get a job that pays like it should. just my two cents. btw .. the border fence has never been completed! meet the new boss, same as the old boss. nothing changes because we dont change our reps often enough. old money and power will always drive the lemmings. we need to clean house, nominate people who will represent us if asked not because they want to.
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happygolucky
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10-23-09 8:24 AM
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I guess we are to 'cuddle' and feel sorry for all those poor homeless, jobless Hispanics. The posts that I read, I wonder if there are ANY legal Hispanics in Marshalltown. I know someone will think of some numbers they want to print.
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Johnny
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10-23-09 6:54 AM
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Grad, I think Chief McAllister said that they did not have the authority to do this, they just narc off the ones that have already committed a crime to ICE. I'd say we could lose plenty of those types and get along just fine.
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RexJ123
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10-23-09 1:24 AM
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"What was accomplished by that?" he said. Gawly, Barney Fife, I dunno...what is ever accomplished by enforcing the law? Aw shucks, you're right - we should just tear down that dad gum border fence, tell all those ICE and Border Patrol agents to find new jobs, and start learnin' to speak espanol. How could the rest of us not see such an obvious solution???
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