Bill would add immigration checks to THP routine duties

Police, others fear move would harm relations with Hispanics

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF and KATE HOWARD
Staff Writers - Tennessean.com
February 27, 2006

Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers could help identify and deport illegal immigrants under bills winding through the state legislature.

The Republican-led bill has 37 sponsors in the state House and two in the Senate. A similar bill introduced by Democrats has two backers as well.

Local law-enforcement agencies can already inform federal immigration officials when they catch a criminal offender they suspect is here illegally.

But many police agencies are hesitant to appear to be working too closely with immigration authorities for fear of losing the support and cooperation of the burgeoning Hispanic population.

Under the recently introduced Tennessee bills, the Department of Safety would be encouraged to train troopers to enforce U.S. immigration laws actively.

"We have our own borders to protect," said state Rep. Donna Rowland, R-Murfreesboro, a sponsor of the house bill. "Tennessee is to be our first priority, and if we have a problem with illegal immigrants, we ought to be willing to assist whenever possible."

Immigrant rights groups, however, say that asking police to enforce immigration laws will further alienate a growing population already distrustful of law enforcement.

"It erodes the basic trust needed to interact with key communities," said David Lubell, director of the Nashville-based Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

Ultimately, he said, the change would be dangerous for all Tennesseans because fear of deportation could keep illegal immigrants who witness crimes from cooperating with police.

Lubell also worries that people who appear Mexican could come under closer scrutiny.

"And if you start crucifying people based on race or ethnicity …, you are undermining basic civil rights," he said.

The issue of using police to beef up the nation's immigration enforcement efforts has become a contentious political question across the country.

THP spokeswoman Melissa McDonald said last week the department has no official position on the bills. In a June 2004 interview, a THP spokeswoman told The Associated Press that the department didn't have the manpower or any immediate plans to train its officers on immigration issues.

Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas has said in the past that he opposes using police officers for immigration duties.

President Bush signed into law last year a $40 million appropriations bill that would pay for training local police to recognize proper documentation. Agencies that choose to do the training can request the money from the federal government.

Some states, such as Alabama and Florida, have trained state officers on identifying immigration- law violators.

But critics of those efforts argue that growing numbers of illegal immigrants will be driven underground, leading to unsolved police cases and crimes unreported by immigrant victims.

Theresa Harmon of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policies, an anti-illegal immigration advocacy group, doesn't see much merit in that argument.

"What we see, generally, is that if you just look at the statistics, it's not that most of the illegal immigrants are more likely to be a victim," Harmon said. "Most are more likely to be a perpetrator."

State Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, a sponsor of the Senate version, sees the legislation as more about searching for terrorists and major criminals than cracking down on minor lawbreakers who happen to be in the country illegally.

"It should be part and parcel of state law enforcement's function, just as we do drug enforcement," Norris said. "To think that law-enforcement personnel are hobbled and not able to detain and question illegal immigrants during routine traffic stops is ludicrous."

Some critics see the Tennessee bills as little more than propaganda to push the agenda of lawmakers who want to crack down on illegal immigration.

Jerry Gonzalez, a Middle Tennessee lawyer who has represented many illegal immigrants in labor or discrimination cases, worries that such changes would allow officers to discriminate against people who look like immigrants or don't speak English.

"The risk of this is that police officers will start profiling people, specifically dark-skinned Latin-Americans, and interrogate them about their illegality — not white, English-speaking Canadians," Gonzalez said.

Immigrant rights advocates also fear that the nation's complicated immigration laws could lead to legal residents being jailed until they can prove their legality to officers.

"There is a reason immigration is federal duty," said Lubell, of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. "It should be left to federal immigration officials."