Sep 25, 2007 4:54 pm US/Central
Irving's Illegal Immigrant Crackdown Sparks Debate
by Jack Fink
IRVING (CBS 11 News) ―
A heated debate has broken out in Irving over the city's crackdown on illegal immigrants.
The Irving Police Department's newest policy has agents from United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checking on the legal status of every single prisoner in the city's jail. This is not done in most other cities.
The new policy has angered some North Texas Hispanic leaders, who confronted Irving city leaders and asked that the practice be stopped. City leaders have refused and said that they are simply carrying out a federal law that has been on the books for years.
"The illegality of it is that, in the case of traffic offenses, they're stopping Hispanics," said Carlos Quintinilla of Hispanic group Accion America. "They are stopping Hispanics because they don't have identification and they're on-site arresting them and taking them into custody."
"No one is getting deported in Irving for traffic offenses," said Irving Mayor Herbert Gears. "If anyone is deported, that's being done by the federal government, by ICE. If that contact came, it's only because you were already in our jail. You're getting deported because you're not in the country legally."
Both sides have agreed to set up a committee to educate the citizens of Irving about the city's program.
Nearly 600 illegal immigrants have been taken into custody by ICE since May 2007. They are now facing deportation.
On Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m., Hispanic leaders are planning to rally at Irving City Hall to protest the deportations.
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