Granato, other officials tout immigration reform

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakima Police Chief Sam Granato and other law enforcement officials urged Congress on Thursday to take up immigration reform and said local police shouldn't be called on to help enforce immigration laws.

The prospect of deportation already causes illegal immigrants to avoid contact with police.

"What we see is they are afraid to step out of the shadows to report a crime or be a witness," Granato said.

Granato made his comments Thursday morning during a 45-minute telephone news conference hosted by the Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative. Also on the call were a suburban Chicago police chief and a Texas sheriff, as well as reporters from across the country, including the New York Times.

The initiative, based in Sacramento, Calif., has held a series of new conferences around the country since last year to promote immigration reform on behalf of police chiefs and sheriffs. Police leaders have not lobbied for a particular approach, but they say immigration law is the responsibility of the federal government and that Congress needs to take action.

Granato says his officers won't participate in a federal program that grants local agencies authority to arrest immigration violators. And he's not alone. Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin and other police chiefs in the Valley have declined to participate.

Congress has been at a stalemate for years over how best to address the fact there are roughly 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally.

Granato and the other participants in Thursday's teleconference -- Sheriff Richard Wiles of El Paso County, Texas, and Police Chief Lisa Womack of Elgin, Ill. -- acknowledged that "polarizing views" exist over immigration policy. Granato predicted the animosity will get worse as jobs become more scarce, but he and the others stressed that local police agencies don't have the resources to provide street-level immigration enforcement.

Wiles questioned how local police would even identify illegal immigrants.

"I would guess maybe the color of their skin. That's certainly not appropriate, it's not ethical and it's a violation of Texas law," he said.

Wiles said the large majority of illegal immigrants are in the United States for economic reasons, and that they are often targeted for crimes because victims are afraid police will deport them.

Yakima's police chief said the issue of illegal immigration particularly affects schools. Some children of immigrants drop out and become involved in gangs.

"This is a problem that has gone on too long ... it's time for Congress and this president to step up to the plate and give us meaningful reform," Granato said.

Some local groups, such as the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and Grassroots on Fire, have urged police departments to help identify and deport illegal immigrants.

But of more than 18,000 local, county and state agencies across the country, fewer than 100 have joined the federal program that provides training and authority to local police agencies to enforce immigration law. None are in Washington state.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona has been an enthusiastic participant and taken on illegal immigration so aggressively that he set up canvas tents to detain people and forced them to wear pink jumpsuits.

The U.S. Justice Department is now investigating his office for alleged discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures, and the Department of Homeland Security has stripped Arpaio of his authority to arrest people solely on suspicion of being in the country illegally.

Locally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers check the log at the Yakima County Jail to identify inmates who were born outside the U.S. If there's suspicion an inmate is here illegally, he or she goes to federal immigration court after the local criminal case is resolved.

Granato and Irwin have said they need to focus on crime, and that they need the cooperation of all residents, regardless of their legal status.

"Instead of forcing state and local police to pick up where the federal government has failed, Congress and the President must reform our immigration laws," Irwin wrote in June in a letter to Congress on behalf of the Washington State Sheriff's Association.

"We urge Congress and the President to enact a comprehensive immigration law that secures the borders and addresses the reality of illegal workers in a comprehensive manner so that this nation can move forward as one."

Leading police organizations have been advocating reform for several years. Most recently, the Police Executive Research Forum held a study session in Raleigh, N.C., on how immigration affects local police agencies. Participants there identified three major points: trust of police in the community, residents who don't have valid identification, and cooperation among law enforcement agencies.

Granato on Thursday predicted that any state laws enlarging the local police role in immigration would backfire.

"We would very quickly fill up our jails with illegal immigrants, and where would the real criminals be?" he said.

* Mark Morey can be reached at 509-577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.