INS Hunt Not Seen as Issue for LAPD

The federal government’s decision to enlist local authorities in tracking down more than 300,000 illegal immigrants ordered deported does not appear to pose a conflict with long-standing Los Angeles police policy, an LAPD spokesman said Friday.

The official added, however, that the Police Commission would probably review the matter next month to ensure that Washington’s move does not clash with LAPD limits on cooperation with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

“Come January, we’re going to have a lot of discussions about it,” said Lt. Horace Frank, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. “We’ll come up with a policy of how we’re going to deal with that.”

INS Commissioner James Ziglar said this week that the federal government would seek the help of local police in finding 314,000 foreign nationals who have ignored deportation orders. Officials plan to place the names in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database so police agencies across the country can quickly learn if someone is wanted by the immigration service.

The agency’s failure to pick up such “absconders”--who disappear after being ordered expelled--has triggered harsh criticism. INS officials say bringing local police on board will help track down the deportation jumpers.

Immigrant advocates have voiced concerns that the new policy could dissuade immigrants from cooperating with police, either as victims or witnesses. In recent decades, police in Los Angeles and other immigrant-heavy areas with such concerns have moved to limit police-INS collaboration.

A 1979 LAPD directive, known as Special Order 40, bars officers from questioning people only because of their immigration status. Civil rights advocates have praised it as a model compromise.

But authorities say the INS move is not at odds with the directive. Police will still run people’s names through the database only after approaching them for other reasons--traffic violations, for instance.

“The fundamental policy of the LAPD is that we will not initiate an investigation to determine someone’s alien status,” Frank said. “That could be a nightmare.”

Special Order 40 does not pose an outright ban on LAPD cooperation with the INS.

Indeed, police regularly contact the INS when officers learn that the agency has a “hold” on someone encountered in the field. Even before this week’s announcement, the INS had entered into the database the names of 125,000 foreign nationals--typically deportees with criminal records who, officials fear, may seek to reenter the country illegally.

When police learn of INS holds on suspects, the LAPD is supposed to give the agency two options: Police can hold suspects until the INS responds, or the agency can send a Teletype authorizing booking of those in custody. If the INS takes neither action, and there is no other legal reason to hold the suspects, they are to be freed.

“If they [the INS] turn to us and say, ‘We’re not going to come get them, but would you do some investigation for us?’ The answer is, ‘No,’ ” Frank said. “We’re not going to do that.”