In Danbury, an initiative led by Mayor Mark Boughton has produced a program for police to receive training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement giving the officers the authority to enforce immigration law.
The initiative, ICE ACESS, has caused dissent and protest from businesses and minority communities.
Many protestors feel that the immigration enforcement is the job of the federal government and that the new authority will be used to harass illegal immigrants, leaving anyone foreign-born subject to racial profiling.
Other concerns include the effect that these laws will have on the city”™s many small businesses.
Boughton has made similar immigration enforcement proposals in 2005 and 2006 and has consistently used immigration reform in his campaign platform.
“We”™re strictly going after illegals who”™ve committed crimes, and you must remember the training process for this partnership is several months so this is not going to be a concern for some time,” said Wayne J. Shepperd, Danbury Economic Development director.
When asked about the perspective that an illegal immigrant who has committed no criminal act would be criminalized and sought on the basis of immigration status, Shepperd responded, “You would be sorely mistaken.”
There will be two officers who train in the immigration protocol.
City officials have promised the authority will only be applied to criminal investigations, such as human trafficking and document fraud.
But opponents challenge that law enforcement is already capable of performing these jobs without added federal powers, and substantiate their point with a 2007 drop in crime.
“This initiative in the short term may earn a stripe or two for the police officers that enforce this law and a vote or two for politicians seeking re-election,” said Tom Kadala, president of ResearchPAYS Inc., a strategic business consulting firm specializing in the development and expansion of Hispanic consumer markets. “In the long term, I believe that basic economic forces will prevail; i.e., if the police officer wants to keep his or her job, they”™ll eventually realize ”“ after a few pink slips get passed around due to budget cuts ”“ the economic vitality that these small businesses in Danbury represent.”
Much of the concern from both immigrant and concerned business people is of the economic nature. The CityCenter Danbury has issued a statement to the members of the Danbury Common Council saying, “We are concerned about the potential economic impact it may have on the downtown district”™s merchants and property owners, many of whom have focused their efforts on serving the immigrant population.”
“The policy shouldn”™t take away from new small businesses coming into the area, though I will be studying that,” said Shepperd. “I think the council has made their point very well that this is a positive thing and I think it”™ll be handled right. Each person who was for this program independently spoke at the council meeting, it was said that they are trying to work with the minority people and that we hope they will work with us. We”™re trying to partner with them. The emphasis is on the criminals and not on the immigrant population.”
According to members of the Common Council the controversy over the program originated in misinformation spread through the immigrant community.
“We’re going to work to do that with the various organizations,” Boughton said of beating back perceived falsehoods. “We’ll look for help from various faith-based organizations and nonprofits,”.
Merchants have said many illegal immigrants have been leaving the city because of the prospect of the ICE program.
“Hispanics tend to stick with people from their same country of origin. Moving to another State is nothing new to them,” said Kadala. “Just think, they left their country almost 3,000 miles away to come to Danbury. Moving from Connecticut to Massachusetts, for example, is not an obstacle, especially if it means better living and working conditions.”
As mandated by the ICE, there will be a steering committee that Boughton says will enable the immigrant community to be heard.
The committee is in place to review specific information on cases, complaints, media coverage and statistical information. Though some Common Council members now feel that they may need to go beyond creating the committee and start a group that will work to heal the divisiveness the immigration debate has caused.
Danbury Police Chief Alan Baker met with religious and business leaders to clarify some of the conceptions and fallacies that have surrounded the program.
Baker recognized that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement is under political pressure to improve its performance and remove more people who are in the country illegally.
He identified the fact that ICE has entered the names of 600,000 illegal aliens in the National Criminal Information System if they have been arrested for a crime or cited for a traffic violation. He explained that if a name is confirmed, implying there is a warrant out for arrest, police are required to bring the individual into custody and turn them over to the corresponding agency.
Baker said not breaking the law is the best guidance leaders could give to communities.
“The cop on the beat isn’t going to care if they are here illegally” said Baker “They are going to be concerned if their name pops up in the system.”
