Law Could Alter Role of Police on Immigration

Provisions buried in the new federal welfare law could profoundly change the way immigrants in cities from Los Angeles to New York interact with police and other public servants.

The measures could allow public employees--including police, social workers, physicians and teachers--to report suspected illegal immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Similar provisions are included in pending legislation that would overhaul the nation’s immigration policy, a proposal expected to win congressional approval this week.

Giving public employees such a role is a dramatic departure from most current state and local laws and policies, which generally restrict what these workers report to the INS. The provisions resemble sections of California’s Proposition 187 that have been invalidated by the courts.

Although no state, county or city has begun directing its workers to turn in illegal immigrants, the prospect has divided moderate Republicans, with California Gov. Pete Wilson praising the revisions and New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani condemning them.

Wilson has ordered state agencies to comply as soon as possible with the new welfare law, which also bars states and local governments from providing most public benefits to illegal immigrants.

“We fully intend to use the new authority that has been conferred on the state and local governments to deny services to those who are illegally in the country and report them to the INS, hopefully for return back to their country of origin,” said Sean Walsh, a spokesman for Wilson.

Giuliani, however, has vowed to go to court against the federal measures, saying they would put immigrants at risk if they use any public institution, including hospitals, schools and libraries. In a recent speech, Giuliani warned that the measures “would make illegal and undocumented immigrants wary of contact with the government for basic services they need to protect themselves--as well as the rest of the population.”

The congressional revisions would alter a generation of policies set into motion as a wave of immigrants transformed California and other areas. The rapid changes persuaded former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates that it was time for cops to get out of the immigration business.

“This was not our responsibility, and all it did was get us into trouble,” recalled the retired chief, who in 1979 pushed for a directive known as Special Order 40.

The trailblazing LAPD policy, enacted after intense community pressure, generally prevents officers from quizzing anyone about their immigration status, checking with the INS or turning suspects accused of minor violations over to immigration authorities. (The major exception involves those who commit serious crimes.)

Police say officers are busy enough without becoming immersed in the immigration thicket. “We have enough trouble trying to keep up with priorities of crime that are out there,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker.

Some cities, such as San Francisco, passed so-called “sanctuary” ordinances that likewise barred police from turning over illegal immigrants accused of minor crimes.

All of these efforts stemmed from a fundamental principle: the need to encourage new arrivals--many lacking papers and hailing from troubled homelands where police were often thieves and torturers--to come forward and report crimes.

New York City, which, unlike Los Angeles, runs a vast hospital, educational and social service network, offered perhaps the most protections. Former Mayor Edward I. Koch issued an executive order in 1989 generally barring city employees from giving information about immigrants to the INS.

Such prohibitions complement privacy laws, doctor-patient confidentiality provisions, and other federal, state and local practices that have long discouraged informing on illegal immigrants who use public services.

Despite those local policies, Washington has for some time mandated that states and local governments administering federally funded aid programs--such as food stamps, unemployment insurance and cash welfare grants--verify noncitizens’ eligibility with the INS. California now also confirms the immigration status of driver’s license applicants.

But illegal immigrants who are denied driving permits or public benefits are not turned in to immigration authorities. The welfare law will change that, requiring states to tell the INS about anyone known to be in the country illegally, according to Wilson’s office.

Immigrant advocates dispute Wilson’s interpretation. But the governor’s office is proceeding with plans to implement a broad scheme mandating that state officials report illegal immigrants.

Giuliani and others warn of dire consequences--the spread of juvenile delinquency and contagious disease, for instance--if fearful immigrants keep their children out of schools and avoid medical treatment. It is the kind of scenario evoked in California during the emotional debate two years ago over Proposition 187.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, like Giuliani a moderate Republican, has been more reserved in his reaction. The mayor sent a letter Friday asking City Atty. James Hahn to review the prospective impact of the federal legislation.

“I have a big problem making schools and local police departments the ones who are responsible for policing illegal immigration,” Riordan said.

Pro-immigrant activists have urged Riordan and the City Council to join in the lawsuit that Giuliani said he is planning.

One likely scenario is a challenge under the 10th Amendment, which generally reserves police powers and certain other responsibilities for the states. A pivotal question is whether the new congressional provisions would supersede existing local practices governing contacts with the INS.

Until the matter is clarified, LAPD officials have no plans to alter their policy of generally not inquiring about people’s immigration status, said Cmdr. Tim McBride, a department spokesman. “We do not want to discourage the community from coming forward” as witnesses, McBride said.

Today, immigration status typically plays little role in policing Los Angeles and other major cities.

The new welfare statute expressly voids federal, state and local laws prohibiting state and local agencies from exchanging information with the INS.

But the law contains no mechanisms to enforce the provision, and it remains unclear what kind of enforcement, if any, would emerge. Nor does the law require that local police turn over suspected illegal immigrants, mandating only that state officials report to the INS.

INS officials are wary of the prospective avalanche of new reports and requests from local governments to their historically understaffed agency long criticized for its inability to even find and deport illegal immigrants who are in jails and prisons.

“We have no capability of responding to every inquiry,” said Richard K. Rogers, INS district director in Los Angeles. “There’s no physical way we can do it.”