Cooperation between border patrol, local police raises concerns (The Press-Enterprise)

Cooperation between border patrol, local police raises concerns
10:34 PM PST on Monday, March 2, 2009

By DAVID OLSON
The Press-Enterprise

A U.S. Border Patrol program aimed at better cooperation with Inland police agencies is leading to the deportation of more criminals, officials say, but some immigration activists believe it is fostering mistrust of local police.

The program, BP Alert, started in September and was at first used mostly in desert areas covered by the agency's Indio office.

In recent weeks, Border Patrol officials have been meeting with police in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties to offer assistance in translation, identifying suspects in local crimes and providing other types of backup, said Agent Richard Velez, spokesman for the agency's El Centro sector, which includes most of the Inland area.

More than 950 people have been arrested on immigration charges -- most in the Coachella Valley -- since the program began, and more than half are also convicted or suspected of nonimmigration crimes, Velez said.

Border Patrol headquarters is evaluating BP Alert, which was created by the El Centro sector, for possible use nationwide, said Agent Steven Cribby, a national Border Patrol spokesman.

Some immigration activists say increased police-Border Patrol collaboration is leading illegal immigrants to not report crimes or cooperate with police when they witness one for fear that they will be deported. The activists worry it will leave some criminals to roam free.

"The community gets the message we've been fearing all along: They can't trust the police.," said Nora Preciado, an attorney with the Los Angeles-based National Immigration Law Center. " ... It could have devastating consequences."

Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, an immigrant-assistance group, said a victim of domestic violence recently told him she did not report the crime because she had heard about police-Border Patrol cooperation.

A four-day intensified test of BP Alert that began Jan. 29 netted 130 immigration-related arrests in the Riverside-San Bernardino area, including 71 people convicted or suspected of crimes, Velez said. Agents were brought in from other sector offices -- in Indio, Calexico and El Centro -- to assist Riverside office agents in providing backup for local police agencies, he said. All 130 suspects were first stopped by local law-enforcement agencies on suspicion of other crimes, he said.

Among those arrested were people accused of murder, drug trafficking, sexual predation, spousal abuse and child molestation, Velez said. He said some of the 71 crimes were misdemeanors, but he did not how many.

Eleven of the local police arrests were at a day-labor pick up site in Riverside's Casa Blanca neighborhood for relatively minor offenses such as riding a bicycle on a sidewalk and trespassing on private property.

Riverside police conducted a Jan. 29 sweep of an area where laborers wait for work after they received complaints from residents about the workers, said Riverside police Lt. Bruce Loftus. Police called Border Patrol to identify 12 men who did not have identification cards, and 11 were detained on immigration charges.

Velez said the Border Patrol always provided some help for law-enforcement agencies and hiring of additional agents in recent years allows the agency to assist more often.

Loftus said that in the past, the Border Patrol had typically spurned police requests for help with identity verification and translation, saying agents were unavailable.

That changed in November when Ramon Chavez, the head of the Riverside Border Patrol office, held a meeting with senior Riverside police officials to offer assistance, Loftus said.

Loftus said he has told Chavez that if Border Patrol agents translate for victims, they should not ask about victims' immigration status. Chavez agreed not to do so, he said.

But Velez said that in the absence of such a request, Border Patrol agents ask victims about immigration status if the agents suspect they are illegal immigrants.

"We have a duty to do so," he said. "We have an authority and mandate from Congress to implement and enforce immigration laws."

Velez said he does not know how many crime victims have been asked their immigration status and what happened to those who were identified as illegal immigrants.

Velez declined to identify the Inland agencies that participate in BP Alert. The Riverside County sheriff's office and San Bernardino police said the Border Patrol recently had meetings with them but said they rarely call the agency for help. Indio police regularly call the Border Patrol, spokesman Ben Guitron said. The three agencies said they also call other law-enforcement agencies, such as California Highway Patrol, when needing assistance.

Officials with several other Inland agencies said they were unaware of any recent Border Patrol outreach to them.

Some Inland police agencies also work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which conducts most immigration-related arrests away from the border. Police sometimes call ICE when they encounter someone they think might by an illegal immigrant during traffic checkpoints.

Employees with the Riverside and San Bernardino counties' sheriff's offices query misdemeanor and felony suspects about their immigration status and call ICE if they believe the inmate may be an illegal immigrant. In 2008, San Bernardino County sheriff's office employees flagged 2,359 inmates for ICE interviews, said spokeswoman Cindy Beavers. In Riverside County, 1,447 were flagged last year, Chief Deputy Rick Hall said.