Suit Challenges Police Policy on Reporting Illegal Immigrants

Escalating the controversy over illegal immigration, a North Hollywood businessman sued the city of Los Angeles on Friday, challenging a policy under which police do not report suspected aliens who have not been accused of crimes.

But police, immigration rights activists and City Council members said the policy is legal and was enacted so that police officers would not jeopardize their crime-fighting abilities by having to act as agents for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Guy Weddington McCreary, a long-time businessman and former North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president, said his lawsuit is intended to give police more power to enforce immigration laws.

“I don’t care how we get them off the street,” McCreary said of illegal immigrants. “Nothing should hamper the police.”

Under a 1979 policy known as Special Order 40, police cannot detain or question a person solely to determine immigration status. However, police can notify the INS after they arrest a person for a crime and determine the person is an illegal immigrant.

Michael C. Murphy, McCreary’s attorney, said the lawsuit, if successful, would enable police who have probable cause to stop and question people about their immigration status.

“Our position is not that we would stop people willy-nilly,” he said.

McCreary, who has also been a vocal supporter of Proposition 187, the measure to deny government services to illegal immigrants, said the city is violating the Constitution by instructing police not to enforce federal laws.

“By putting limitations on the police, we are breaking the law,” he said.

Cmdr. Tim McBride said one reason for the policy is that police have enough work fighting crime, and prefer leaving the enforcement of federal immigration laws to the INS.

“We have plenty to do and don’t have time to do investigative activities for another agency,” he said.

Councilmember Laura Chick, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, agreed. “I don’t want to see the LAPD taking on the load for the INS,” she said. “They are already overburdened.”

Another reason behind Special Order 40, officials say, is that illegal immigrants would not report crimes or cooperate with police if they thought the police would report them to the INS.

“We don’t ask people’s situation because we would not get cooperation from them,” said City Councilman Mike Hernandez. “It would create a distrust in the community.”

Juan Jose Gutierrez, executive director of the One-Stop Immigration Center, agreed. “It would translate to an increase in unreported crime and increase in non-cooperation with police,” he said. “It would be bad for everyone.”

The lawsuit touches on controversial issues that have generated heated debate for years, particularly since voters approved Proposition 187 two years ago to deny many government services to illegal immigrants.

One of the provisions of Proposition 187 called on police to report suspected illegal immigrants to the INS. But that provision was ruled unlawful by a federal judge last year.

Vibiana Andrade, national director for immigrant rights at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said McCreary’s lawsuit is an attempt to circumvent that ruling.

“It appears he’s trying to enforce 187 in a backdoor way,” she said.

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Murphy rejected Andrade’s charge and claims that the lawsuit could hamper police crime fighting. He said the police and INS can grant immunity to crime victims or witnesses who are in the country illegally.

A spokesman for the INS could not be reached for comment.

Glen Spencer, a spokesman for the pro-187 group in Sherman Oaks, called Voice of Citizens Together, said the organization supports the lawsuit and McCreary, who is a member of the group.

“We totally applaud Guy McCreary and are happy to see citizens step forward and defend the Constitution of the United States,” he said.

He also rejected suggestions that police would lose the cooperation of immigrants if they were to question people solely to determine immigration status.

“That’s a bunch of propaganda,” Spencer said.