ICE Won't Let Morristown Police Enforce the Law

MPD officers won’t enforce immigration laws
BY ROBERT MOORE, Tribune Staff Writer

Immigration officials refuse to grant Morristown police officers expanded powers to enforce laws against illegal aliens, in part, because the anticipated caseload increase could choke the system, police say.

Morristown City Council member Mel Tucker, who pushed the initiative, is steamed and adds he’s not taking "no" for an answer.

The Morristown Police Department approached the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency about having two MPD officers trained to perform certain duties of a federal immigration agent.

The so-called 287(g) program would have expanded police powers in two ways, according to Lt. Chris Wisecarver, MPD training officer who was assigned to sort out the details.

First, it would have allowed officers who encounter illegal immigrants during the course of routine police action to document their illegal status and begin deportation proceedings.

In cases of casual contact like a traffic stop, in which an illegal immigrant had committed no crime, the officers could not take the foreign national into custody.

Once an illegal alien was booked into jail, however, the officers would be able to process them into the I.C.E database without relying on a federal agent.

Wisecarver says he was told that MPD officers would not have access to the training by Agent Roland Jones, regional program manager of the 287(g) program.

"He went on to say that the Knoxville I.C.E. office is not equipped to handle transportation of more detained illegals than they currently experience," Wisecarver wrote in a summation to Police Chief Roger Overholt.

Tucker says that when he learned his months-long initiative had hit the wall, he felt "absolute anger."

"This whole issue for me is getting more and more significant," Tucker said Friday. "I think when you have a government — literally — that refuses to enforce the law, that’s the first step toward anarchy. And that’s what our federal government is doing."

The council member says the federal government’s unwillingness to enforce immigration laws is no less absurd than if the police department decided to suspend enforcement of laws against drug trafficking.

"I do not intend to let this issue sit there and say, ‘We just can’t do anything about it,’" the council member added.

Tucker says his next step will be to speak with U.S. Rep. David Davis to get his input on what Congress can do to assist communities like Morristown that are attempting to cope with thousands of suspected undocumented residents.

The vast majority of suspected illegal immigrants in Morristown are Latinos from Mexico and other Central American countries, but Tucker says his beef with the federal government over immigration policy has nothing to do with race or nationality.

Tucker says it’s about enforcing existing laws.

I.C.E agents routinely pick up illegal aliens at the Hamblen County Jail after the inmates finish serving their time.

In most cases, however, the illegal immigrants are given a court date to appear before an immigration judge, then released on their own recognizance.

What normally happens, immigration officials have said, is the illegal immigrants fail to appear in court and continue their lives on the lam.

Wisecarver said that in turning down the MPD for the 287(g) program, I.C.E maintained that the required computer equipment, which could cost as much as $30,000, would be too expensive to support just two officers.

"When asked if things would change if we trained more officers... (Jones) stated not currently," Wisecarver wrote in his summary to the police chief. "The local office just does not have the support personnel to handle it."

I.C.E. falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. Nearly a third of this year’s DHS $35.6 billion budget is earmarked for improving border security and immigration enforcement.

Neither Jones nor his superior officer, William Black, I.C.E. senior special agent in charge of the 287(g) program in New Orleans, were available for comment Friday.

Wisecarver says that I.C.E.’s current 287(g) focus is on training jail personnel. All 287(g) training slots are filled until mid-2008, according to Wisecarver.

"Agent Jones suggested that we continue to do what we are doing as far as notifying the local I.C.E. officer when a suspected illegal alien is arrested and utilize the local office on operations as we currently do, when possible," Wisecarver wrote in his summation.

"He stated that local agents are already doing exactly what trained local officers would do and we probably would be taking on something that would not be as big a benefit as (we) first thought," Wisecarver added.

The police lieutenant said that I.C.E pointed out that booking an illegal alien into the federal system takes two to three hours, and this would take police off the streets.

Also, after illegal immigrants finish serving their jail terms, they can only be held for 72 hours before they must be shipped to an I.C.E.-certified detention facility.

The closest I.C.E.-certified detention facility to Morristown in the five-state immigration region is in Memphis, 438 miles away.

"I.C.E. doesn’t have enough manpower to do the transportation," Wisecarver said.