Gates Opposes Bar to Police, INS Cooperation

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said Thursday he would oppose limits on cooperation between police and federal immigration authorities proposed by City Councilman Michael Woo.

Gates said his officers would not obey the policy if it were approved by the City Council.

Woo introduced a motion Wednesday to restrict cooperation between the LAPD and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The motion was prompted by an incident last week when police turned over to the INS 27 illegal immigrants who had been held hostage by smugglers.

Woo said the department’s actions have created a “climate of fear and mistrust” in the immigrant community, in which victims and witnesses of crimes are reluctant to call the police.

Gates said Woo’s proposal would interfere with law enforcement.

“We could not possibly follow it,” the police chief said. “You can’t establish a city policy that would not allow us to act legally and professionally. (The council) is going to have to understand that we have to do our job.”

Woo’s motion is scheduled to go before the council’s Public Safety Committee next month. The proposal, modeled on a San Francisco city ordinance, states that the department should not “assist or cooperate with any (INS) investigation, detention or arrest procedures.”

Exceptions would be made if the immigrant commits a felony or drug-dealing offense or if the INS has requested assistance in serving a search or arrest warrant.

Relatives of a man from El Salvador contacted attorneys at the Central American Refugee Center for help June 13 after immigration smugglers demanded a $1,000 ransom to release the men, women and children held in a South-Central house.

The attorneys contacted police, asking that officers not notify the INS of the hostages’ immigration status. Police officials said they could not comply with the request. Officers from the Newton Division rescued the immigrants and turned them over the INS an hour later.

Woo said his proposal would strengthen and clarify a policy resolution adopted by the council in 1985 declaring Los Angeles a “city of refuge.” The policy states police should not identify crime victims to the INS.

But Gates said the council does not have the power to ignore federal laws.

“A couple of years ago (Councilman Woo) tried to make this a separate country where you could come with impunity,” Gates said. “We can’t do that. We’re part of the U.S. And the INS, whether we like it or not, is a very valid legal entity of the U.S. government. There is no way I can ignore them legally or otherwise.”

Immigration agents were contacted by police in last week’s kidnaping because a federal crime had been committed, Gates said.

“We didn’t have any other choice,” he said. “It appeared to be extortion, perhaps kidnaping or smuggling, all of which is in the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.”

Gates said he did not feel the incident would deter illegal immigrants from cooperating with police. “We work with undocumented immigrants all the time. We have a good relation with them,” he said.