Alatorre Seeks Clearer LAPD Rule on Aliens

Citing public testimony about eroding trust in police by immigrants and refugees, Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre said Monday that he planned to move forward to clarify a city policy instructing officers not to turn illegal aliens over to immigration authorities, unless they are charged with serious crimes.

Implementation of the longstanding policy has come into question recently, in particular after police turned 27 illegals they rescued from smugglers over to immigration authorities last month.

Alatorre and Councilman Michael Woo have drafted a proposal to amend the 1979 policy to more specifically direct police not to take such action without cause.

At a meeting of the Public Safety Committee he chairs, Alatorre said Monday that the police have shown a willingness to abide by the letter, but not the spirit, of the policy.

Alatorre said that over the years, “too many holes” have weakened the policy, allowing for broad “misinterpretation” by officers, and that the policy is no longer protecting the rights of immigrants as was intended.

“All of us, whether citizens or not, have an interest in seeing trust (in police) restored,” said Woo, noting that if aliens are afraid of being deported, they will not report crimes to police.

George A. Morrison, the Los Angeles Police Department’s chief of staff, told Alatorre that the department had not had sufficient time to study the proposed policy changes, but would bring an assessment to next Monday’s committee meeting.

Morrison did say, however, that some of the changes would put the department in conflict with existing laws and did not take into account some “real-life situations” officers might face on the streets.

Advocates for immigrants and refugees testified that police have turned illegals over to immigration authorities for such petty crimes as selling Christmas cards, for playing a stereo too loud or, in the case of a homeless 12-year-old Nicaraguan, for curfew violation.

“In recent months, it’s become increasingly apparent to us that refugees who fall into the hands of the Los Angeles police as witnesses or victims risk being handed over to the INS,” said Madeline Janis, director of the Central American Refugee Center.

Janis is the attorney who placed the call to police that, unexpectedly, led to the arrests of the 27 aliens who were being held hostage by smugglers. Janis added that more than half of the aliens were deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

“We can no longer in good conscience advise people to cooperate with police,” she added.

Others who work with refugees and immigrants said they found themselves in the same quandary.

Sandra Cacavas, director of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, cited the case of a Panamanian woman who said she was raped by a Los Angeles police officer, but did not report the crime, fearing she would be turned over to the INS.

“She is not alone. Assailants know these women can be silenced,” Cacavas said.

Janis, who with other immigrants’ advocates has met with police over the issue, said that in dozens of conversations with Los Angeles police officers, at all levels, she has detected a growing anti-immigrant sentiment. She said there is a sense that “the undocumented are culpable of something, (are) all criminals and should be deported.”

It only follows, Janis added, that the Police Department wants to maintain wide discretion to report illegals to the INS.

“We’ve been stonewalled,” the attorney said. “We’ve received an emphatic ‘no’ from the Police Department.”

She said committee action was needed to move the issue forward.

Illegals who are convicted of serious crimes are deported after serving their sentences. Under the proposed policy clarification, even when charges are dropped, an alien’s illegal status would have been reported to INS, which would leave him at risk of deportation.