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Jailer pokes hole in city's claim

Accounts differ on whether immigrants are reported to feds

Lou Kilzer, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 19, 2005 at midnight

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The head of Denver jails says his department does not routinely tell federal immigration authorities which of its inmates are immigrants.

Director of Corrections Fred Oliva said that of the 270-plus Mexican nationals who were in custody Monday, fewer than 40 were flagged for immigration holds - and then only because they were already in a federal computer. The list does not include incarcerated immigrants from other nations.

Prisoners who self-report they were born in other countries are not asked if they are in the United States illegally, he said.

The procedure seems to be at odds with written Denver policy, which says that when a person is arrested and is "believed to be an undocumented immigrant . . . sheriff's department personnel will then notify the INS authorities according to their procedures."

It could also be at odds with what the sheriff's department said this week.

Then, a department spokesman said that potential illegal immigrants are reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

City officials say they have asked Oliva to discuss the matter in the mayor's office this morning.

Michael Bennet, the mayor's chief of staff, said, "We think it is important that we be clear about what our policies are and that they be followed. . . . If there are inconsistencies, we went to know the cause of it."

Bennet, however, said he was not certain whether the apparent discrepancies were substantial, or matters of semantics.

The issue of reporting criminal violators to immigration officials was raised last week by U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who complained that the suspect in the slaying of a Denver police officer had a history of local traffic citations.

Tancredo maintained that the citations should have tipped off authorities that the suspect, Raul Garcia-Gomez, was an illegal immigrant.