A Federal Responsibility--Period

It’s disturbing, and it smacks of racial profiling, that some police departments in Orange County are still detaining and taking steps to deport people they suspect of being illegal residents. This is a practice that enlightened police agencies dropped long ago.

U.S. Border Patrol records show that various Orange County police departments are taking suspected illegal immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service checkpoint in San Clemente and turning them over for deportation. This is not a practice that the federal government invites; the INS would rather such decisions generally be left to federal officials.

Some local departments say they take action only when it involves criminal behavior that might not be prosecuted locally. For instance, many of the suspects were stopped initially for minor infractions such as selling flowers without a city license or soliciting day-labor work. The question is irresistible: What is the point of this practice?

The rousting of day laborers seeking work has been an issue since the mid-1980s in Orange County, with businesses complaining that loiterers scared off their customers. Much of that problem was resolved by cities that set up job centers, which have been a help in Los Angeles as well.

The nut of the current problem is that local police are trying to determine who is or isn’t a legal resident. In an increasingly urbanized area like Orange County, where about three out of every 10 residents is Latino, stopping residents who “look” illegal opens the door to all kinds of abuses.

San Diego and Los Angeles police have policies that specifically prohibit targeting suspected illegal immigrants. A special order was issued by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1979 banning such a practice, but in view of the recent Rampart Division scandal a Police Commission panel last week ordered the department to ensure that the policy is spelled out in the department’s operating manual. That order makes sense.

Controlling illegal immigration is a federal function. When local police cross that line, they put a barrier between themselves and minority residents.