City Defines Police Role in Helping INS

The Police Department will continue to cooperate with the U.S. Border Patrol in rounding up suspected illegal aliens, city officials announced Friday.

The new policy comes in response to charges from Latino residents that such raids are racially discriminatory and that police cooperation in them makes undocumented residents more vulnerable to exploitation and crime, because it forces them to fear local authorities.

The statement issued Friday represents little substantial change from the department’s existing policy, but it does rule out participation in Border Patrol sweeps just for the sake of picking up aliens. Police participation must now be linked to preventing crime.

Now in Writing

“The one thing that’s new about it,” said Police Chief John H. Cleghorn, “is that it is in writing, and it’s not subject to interpretation.”

Still, the written policy does represent “an attitudinal change, a very cooperative effort” on the part of city officials, said Father Bob Buchanan, a leader of the opposition to recent immigration sweeps.

Cleghorn had predicted, in a May 23 memorandum to City Manager James D. Wheaton, that “the critics of joint operations between the Police Department and the Border Patrol will not be satisfied that the . . . (new) policy meets their desires.”

But the document met with a positive reaction.

“We’re very happy with it,” said Buchanan, pastor of St. Edward’s Church, Corona’s largest religious congregation. “I think there’s a spirit behind it that is not in the document. . . . There is an understanding and a sensitivity of community needs and (a desire) to promote stability and security among all members of community.”

Criminal Acts

The new policy asserts that “the incidence of illegal aliens involved in criminal acts . . . has been on the increase,” a claim that Cleghorn and other city officials have repeatedly used to explain their cooperation with immigration authorities.

Critics disagree and say the Police Department has never produced statistics to support the argument.

“This is based on an observation,” Cleghorn said Friday, “but we are currently putting together some statistics.”

Corona officials won’t ask the Border Patrol to run another sweep in the city, Cleghorn said, unless they can target a specific crime problem that the sweep might mitigate.

Buchanan and other community leaders contended that the methods used in two sweeps for suspected illegal aliens in Corona were unconstitutional and unfair.

And they vowed to take Corona to court if the city did not halt the sweeps, in which teams of local police officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents combed the central city’s streets and playgrounds in white Corona police cars, stopping long enough only to start a conversation with their suspects, handcuff them, and deposit them in a steady stream at the city jail.

A Jan. 28 sweep netted 74 suspected illegal aliens; on April 10, authorities picked up about 100 suspects in four hours.

“We do not expect to see (Immigration and Naturalization Service) agents riding in police cars anymore,” Buchanan said.

But that tactic, used in the sweeps, may be used again if police believe it is the best way to deal with a crime problem, Cleghorn said. “The policy doesn’t prohibit that. . . . I do not want to give that up as an option,” the chief said.

Opponents of the sweeps wanted the city to adopt a policy similar to those in Santa Ana, Los Angeles and Anaheim, where police refuse to participate in immigration raids. Although Corona stopped far short of that, Buchanan said, “we’re not going to sue the city.”

Under the new, written policy, Corona police officers will “question, detain or arrest” suspected illegal aliens only when they have “a rational suspicion of some unusual activity . . . and some suggestion that the activity is related to crime” or when “authorization exists under the vehicle code to arrest and detain the person.”

But police will also be allowed to hold suspected aliens when “requested by, and under the supervision of, an immigration officer . . . who has arrested the individual and has requested assistance.”

Vulnerable as Victims

The policy includes a two-sentence section reminding police officers “that illegal aliens are often more vulnerable as crime victims,” directing that the aliens be protected from “attack or exploitation,” and stating that police want all crimes to be reported “irrespective of the alien status of a victim or a witness.”

Added Cleghorn, “We’re not going to deport you just for cooperating with us.”

Participation in Border Patrol operations, the new policy states, “. . . shall be approved by the chief of police, (and) shall be related to criminal activities.

“It shall be the role of Border Patrol officers to identify, interview, arrest and process illegal aliens,” the policy states. “It shall be the role of department personnel to provide support . . . as requested by Border Patrol personnel, or when emergency assistance is warranted.”

The policy takes effect immediately, Cleghorn said Friday.

“A key demand of the critics is that the Police Department not be involved in any enforcement action designed solely to determine the alien status of an individual,” Cleghorn wrote in his May 23 memo. “This is not acceptable to the police because it would prevent the department from assisting Border Patrol officers at times when they are operating in Corona.

“Such assistance to this other law enforcement agency,” the chief wrote, “is completely legal and proper and should not be discontinued.”