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Enforcement fiasco

Even most illegals in jail aren't being deported

Published June 19, 2007 at midnight

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If you need more evidence that the enforcement side of federal immigration law isn't measuring up, just look at the information that has come to light from Senate Bill 90, one piece of the package of immigration reforms that passed the legislature last year.

The bill, which received bipartisan support, requires Colorado's local law enforcement agencies to report to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency any illegal immigrants who are arrested or cited for most offenses that are more serious than a traffic citation. It also instructs agencies to tally how many people they had referred to ICE in the previous year.

In many cases, these people would be subject to deportation. They've been jailed or ordered to jail for serious misdemeanors and felonies.

But the Rocky's Burt Hubbard found that the lion's share of these illegal immigrants - 37 of every 38 reported to ICE - were never issued a hold or detention order. The feds were notified, and nothing happened.

Anecdotally, local police told Hubbard that they've seen no increase in deportations, even though SB 90 has provided valuable information to the feds.

This failure in enforcement may help explain why the public appears dubious about Washington's steps toward comprehensive immigration reform. Polls show a majority of Americans are open to letting many illegal immigrants enter a path to citizenship. But that support is often conditional - those polling majorities do not endorse porous borders. And they want evidence that those borders are being secured first.

To date, Washington has failed miserably to hold up the enforcement side of the bargain.

Hubbard reported that more than 15,000 illegal immigrants covered by SB 90 were reported to ICE for investigation in the final six months of last year. And that figure is certainly an understatement, because (for instance) some smaller jurisdictions lacked the personnel to do the reporting.

Lawmakers who opposed SB 90 say this shows that the bill has been little more than window dressing. "What has it done but result in more cost, no deportation and inhumane treatment of working families, and that includes legal immigrants here?" said Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver. Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, called the bill "worthless."

Hardly. SB 90 has highlighted the magnitude of the feds' failure at enforcement. There are thousands of illegal immigrants in our midst who would not have been welcome in the United States had they applied for residency through legal channels. Washington has largely treated them with indifference.

These are not the hard-working, entrepreneurial folks who typify so many who come to America in the hope of building better lives for their families. The people identified by SB 90 are garden-variety trouble-makers and criminals who would prey on their communities, wherever those happen to be.

The law has been valuable, and eye-opening. It confirms fears that the federal government is ill-prepared to deport even those illegal immigrants who can't stay out of jail - hardly a high enforcement bar. Indeed, deporting such illegal immigrants should be one of the highest priorities of future enforcement, with or without comprehensive immigration reform.

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