Activists Claim Police Help INS to Expel Aliens

Immigrant-rights activists Thursday called for more stringent rules controlling the Los Angeles Police Department’s relationship with the U.S. immigration authorities, charging that the department in recent months has aided in the deportation of street vendors who were arrested for operating without a license.

The activists said the department’s “collaboration” with the Immigration and Naturalization Service is a clear violation of a policy that prohibits city employees from acting as immigration agents.

Of particular concern to them was the Dec. 6 arrest near drug-infested MacArthur Park of an alien who, activists said, was selling Christmas cards without a permit. The man, identified by activists as Gilberto Roman Suarez, was turned over to INS agents who deported him to Mexico, police confirmed.

Police say they are investigating the allegations.

“In a city with a large immigrant and refugee population, it is essential that people understand that the LAPD and the INS are not one and the same,” said Father Luis Olivares, chairman of the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles. “If people fear that contact with the police (will) result in their deportation, victims and witnesses of crimes will not go to the police, a situation which hurts all residents.

”. . . Where’s the due process here?” Olivares asked.

The City Council in 1985 adopted a policy that directed police officers and other city employees to offer services to all Los Angeles residents, regardless of immigration status. In addition, the policy said municipal workers should not act as immigration agents and enforce federal immigration laws.

The policy, however, allows police to work with the INS to deal with career criminal aliens and others guilty of multiple misdemeanor offenses.

At a news conference in front of police headquarters at Parker Center, Olivares and other activists criticized the police practice of allowing INS agents to aid in the arresting and booking of aliens for various offenses. At Rampart Station, which polices an area with a large immigrant population, INS agents routinely work with police officers, the activists charged.

Coalition officials called on the City Council to prohibit any joint L.A. police operations with the immigration service and to limit police cooperation to cases in which aliens have been arrested or convicted of a felony.

The commander of the Rampart Station, Capt. Robert W. Riley, said his officers were not violating city policy or enforcing immigration laws. “We are doing our very best to serve all segments of the community,” he said. “An alien’s status is of no concern to us.”

Riley added that while immigration agents routinely check in with Rampart officers, they do not have a permanent presence at the station. He also pointed out that INS officers, like other law enforcement officials, have access to information about arrests and other data gathered at the station.

Spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said the department was not about to ban contact with the INS.

“I’m not going to bar the door to any other law enforcement agency,” Booth said.

INS officials said they were happy for any cooperation that would lead to the arrest of criminal aliens.

“We think our cooperation with Los Angeles is positive,” immigration service spokeswoman Carol Bara said.