LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Block Urges Illegal Residents to Keep Reporting Crimes

Saying that “a great deal of uncertainty” exists in immigrant communities because of the passage of Proposition 187, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block on Friday urged illegal immigrants to continue stepping forward if they are witnesses to or victims of crime.

Those who are victims or witnesses are in no danger of investigation for possible deportation, Block said at a news conference.

Living in the United States illegally remains a civil violation that is enforceable only by the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, Block explained.

Proposition 187, which was overwhelmingly approved, does call for people who are arrested on other offenses and cannot prove their legal residency to be reported to immigration authorities. But that section of the initiative, and most others, are enjoined by state and federal courts.

The Sheriff’s Department does make available to the INS the names of those arrested who say they were born outside the United States. “The procedures in place are the things we’ve been doing forever,” Block said.

The sheriff said the one portion of Proposition 187 that has taken effect--new state statutes against the manufacture and use of fraudulent citizenship documents--will be enforced “on a uniform basis by all law enforcement agencies in this county.”

Earlier this week, the county district attorney’s office filed felony charges against five Huntington Park-area men accused of manufacturing fake papers.