Recognizing that the policy in place for fourteen years was flawed, the Houston Police Department has modified its handling of immigration issues.

Under fire in recent months over its policy toward illegal immigrants, the Houston Police Department is unveiling new procedures today to allow more cooperation with federal agents trying to catch criminals living in the country illegally.

Officers still will not inquire about the immigration status of people they haven't arrested, so the changes are unlikely to quiet critics who have labeled Houston a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants.

But the department is making several key revisions.

An announcement is expected today, less than two weeks after the shooting death of police officer Rodney Johnson caused simmering opposition to the department policy to flare anew. An illegal immigrant who previously had been deported is charged in the slaying.

Now what this means is that HPD won't go on ignoring violations of immigration laws, but will instead cooperate with federal authorities .

Among the changes to take effect this week:

•The department will hold people detained or arrested for traffic violations or other minor crimes — Class C misdemeanors — if warrant checks show they are wanted by federal agents for defying an order to leave the country or for returning after being deported in connection with a criminal case. Under existing policy, police generally did not hold such people for federal authorities, even if officers were aware of the federal warrants.

•The department will allow immigration agents unfettered access to the city's two jails, as they have had in the Harris County jail, and officers will start asking all arrestees whether they are citizens.

•Fingerprints of anyone booked into the jails without proper identification will be checked against a national fingerprint database. That could help officers identify wanted criminals, including people wanted for serious immigration violations, police say.

Now the policy does not go far enough, in my book. HPD officers should inquire about the immigration status of ALL individuals arrested or cited and then notify federal authorities of those here illegally. This is, however, a good start.

And for those who argue that immigration is a federal issue and that the local cops should not be involved in enforcing such laws, would you care to let us know what other federal laws you don't want cops enforcing?

Kidnapping?

Terrorism?

Drug trafficking?

Come on, surely there must be some other federal law besides the one against border jumping that you don't believe local cops should enforce.

And interestingly enough, the policy change was expedited by the murder of HPD Officer Rodney Johnson by a previously-deported, child-molesting, border-jumping immigration criminal.

The death of officer Rodney Johnson expedited the Houston Police Department's new policy of asking people arrested in minor crimes for identification and running criminal background checks on those who cannot provide it, but the change was being formulated before he was killed during the arrest of an illegal immigrant, Mayor Bill White said Sunday.

"That did provide an additional impetus to bring this to conclusion, but it was in the works anyway," White said at a news conference Sunday formally announcing the change. "Both Chief (Hurtt) and I, after that death, we asked for an expedited review of everything we could to identify people who are wanted (for criminal activity)."

I wonder -- will Houston city councilwoman Ada Edwards call Mayor White and Chief Hurtt "pimps" for making the change, as she did Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs when the GOP congressional candidate courageously called for the policy's change on the day of Johnson's funeral?

Posted by: Greg at 10:19 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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