Latino leaders meet
with Attorney General
By CHRISTINE SPARTA,
thnt Online, September 9, 2007
A group of Latino leaders welcomed
the chance to have a dialogue with state Attorney General Anne Milgram on
Saturday concerning her recent order to local law-enforcement agencies to
inquire about the immigration status of people they arrest. The leaders,
however, have some reservations about the implementation of the directive.
Members of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey met with Milgram at the
Days Hotel & Conference Center in East Brunswick to discuss the directive, which
specifies that police may only ask about someone's immigration status when
they're being arrested for an indictable offense or for driving while
intoxicated. Victims and witnesses are not subject to inquiries.
"We welcome these guidelines, but we have concerns," said Martin Perez,
president of the alliance. "We understand the attorney general has good
intentions but we have to make sure there's a mechanism to make changes in the
guidelines."
Perez said Latinos are often portrayed unfairly in society and emphasized that
they are integral to the community with homes, jobs and memberships in chambers
of commerce.
Perez noted that some members of his alliance are concerned about the effect of
Milgram's directive on the issue of domestic violence. For instance, he
said, a wife might want to report her husband because there is domestic violence
in the home but doesn't for fear of deportation. He added that sometimes
people fight and get back together making this a complicated issue.
A big fear is racial profiling.
Perez said sometimes people get arrested on a trumped up charge, it is then
downgraded and there may be no evidence to support the case, but the person's
legal status is revealed and he is then deported before the case can be
disputed.
Perez said the attorney general agreed to randomly pick between 10 to 20 police
departments to monitor the number of arrests to see if there is a pattern of
profiling Latinos.
Milgram did not address the press after attending the closed-door meeting with
the Latino leaders.
Richard Rivera, an official with the New Jersey chapter of the National Latino
Peace Officers Association and a retired police officer, would like to see
personal communication and cultural diversity issues addressed at police
academies on the first day of training.
"The problem inherent in any type of guideline is that it needs to be fluid and
there needs to be an open dialogue with the attorney general's office," he said.
Rivera said he would like to see people feel free to speak up if a crime is
committed instead of fearing deportation. He asked the attorney general to
open a toll-free, anonymous hot line for people to call if they feel victimized
without worry of repercussions because of immigration status.
In addition, Rivera said that every police department in the United States
should have compliment and complaint forms in English, Spanish and any other
language that was prominent in the community.
Churches have also been very vocal in this issue. The Rev. Miguel Rivera,
president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders,
supports the efforts of the LLANJ.
The Rev. Rivera said New Jersey is ahead of many other states in tackling
immigration issues. He said the problem centers around Congress, adding
that if Congress doesn't seek a solution to the problem, it trickles down to a
municipal level.
"We believe that instead of police officers calling immigration officers, let
the judges do that. It's more fair and avoids the possibility of racial
profiling," he said.
However, he's quick to add that he's not condoning criminal activity like the
murders of three people last month in Newark by Jose Carranza, an illegal
immigrant from Peru.
The Rev. Rivera said his group has a moral standing to fight for the rights of
immigrants in the same way Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did in the '60s with his
Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The Rev. Rivera said that mistakes can be made — including computer glitches and
missing documents — that could lead to the deporting a legalized citizen or one
who is in the process of applying for citizenship.
The reverend is mobilizing affiliated church congregations to take an active,
vigilant role. He said he is in the process of creating a database with
the names, badge numbers and license plates of police officials who may have
been guilty of racial profiling and is encouraging congregants to step forward
with information.
His organization is engaged in litigation in Georgia and Oklahoma regarding
similar cases of discrimination. He's also planning seminars for other
pastors to show them their legal options in similar situations.
As far as a resolution goes, in the end, Rivera said it comes down to an issue
of humanity.
"Try to understand each other. Maybe the color of our skin or accent is
different, but we are neighbors," he said.
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