Immigration Memorandums In Hand

John Henley Jr. THE MORNING NEWS
ROGERS -- The city will not become a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, pledged Mayor Steve Womack during a Wednesday news conference to announce the receipt of a "long-awaited and much-anticipated" agreement from federal officials. Rogers officials received on Tuesday a signed memorandum of agreement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 287(g) program.
The memorandum empowers six Rogers police officers who received 287(g) training earlier this month to perform immigration enforcement functions. Three other Northwest Arkansas law enforcement agencies received signed memorandums on Tuesday: Springdale Police Dept, and the Benton and Washington counties' sheriff's offices. The four agencies involved are part of a 287(g) regional task force model, which is different from the standard field model or detention model. Rogers Police initially applied to be a field model program, while the other agencies all applied to be detention models.
The task force model was a byproduct of displacement fears, Womack said, adding although Rogers would participate in the regional task force, the memorandum was specific to Rogers and the task force would not get in the way of Rogers police from enforcing immigration law.
Womack addressed fears the 287(g) authority would be used to racially profile and has previously said any officer found to be abusing the 287(g) authority would be fired. Steve Helms, Rogers Police chief, also tried to allay fears of racial profiling by officers. You will not see units on the street going from door to door, business to business, Helms said. However, not everyone was satisfied with those assurances.
"It is a very sad thing they approved the 287(g) in Rogers because it is going to allow the police to racially profile the Hispanic community," (any evidence the police are racist?) Hilda Gomez, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens' local council. "We are open to take any complaints and will be in contact with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, our attorney, and we will be reporting any incident to MALDEF," Gomez said.(they won't care about the hispanic victims of illegal immigration) A class-action federal lawsuit was filed in 2001 by the legal fund on behalf of Hispanics who felt they were contacted by Rogers police officers based on their ethnicity. The two sides reached a settlement agreement to end the lawsuit in 2003. As part of the settlement, the city did not admit wrongdoing and agreed to take steps to ensure the fair treatment of Hispanics, and the legal fund agreed to drop all claims for monetary damages.
"We feel that this could potentially violate the spirit of the settlement agreement," said Elise Short, the legal fund's regional counsel with in the Atlanta office. This type of agreement -- 287(g) -- divides and discourages the community from reporting crimes because it creates feelings of hostility between the community and local law enforcement officials, whose function is to protect and serve, Short said. (we have to allow crime so that we can report other crime) City Attorney Ben Lipscomb has maintained Rogers' participation in the program does not violate the agreement.
Lipscomb pointed out his office's efforts to be as open and honest as possible with the public and media, even though such efforts have put him at loggerheads with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Lipscomb said that level of transparency will continue. Helms said the police department has a complaint line that anyone can call anonymously. All complaints regarding 287(g) operations will be forwarded for review to Immigration officials for review, according to the memorandum.
Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder and County Judge Jerry Hunton signed the Washington County Sheriff's Office memorandum of agreement on Wednesday. The four Washington County deputies participating in the 287 (g) program will begin enforcing immigration laws immediately, said Chief Deputy Jay Cantrell. Benton County Sheriff Keith Ferguson said he was in receipt of the memorandum for his agency and was reviewing it. Ferguson said he expected to sign the agreement after review.
Springdale Police Chief Kathy O'Kelley acknowledged receipt of the memorandum, but would not comment further. A copy released to The Morning News by the officials with the Springdale department, showed O'Kelley and Springdale Mayor Jerry Van Hoose signed the agreement.
The Morning News' Pablo Bello and Christopher Spencer contributed to this report.
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