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 Editorials | Issues | October 2007 
Consulate Seeks to Issue IDs to Help Reduce Arrests
 Patrick Mcgee - Dallas Star-Telegram
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Dallas, TX - The Mexican Consulate wants to send mobile units to Irving, Texas to issue identification cards to illegal immigrants to try to save them from arrest and deportation.
Irving Mayor Herbert Gears said the ID cards could prevent only a few arrests, but he promised to meet monthly with Consul Enrique Hubbard Urrea to review any complaints stemming from the city's Criminal Alien Program.
Deportations
The program identifies suspected illegal immigrants in the city's jail and refers them to federal authorities for possible deportation. More than 1,600 illegal immigrants, mostly Mexicans, have been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the past 13 months.
Gears said the program will continue.
"Nothing has been changed in regards to police policy and procedure," he said.
Urrea said he wants to send consulate officials to Irving to issue ID cards directly to Mexicans living there. No schedule or location has been chosen.
"If they have the card, their chances of not being arrested would improve dramatically," he said. Police can arrest motorists for not having a driver's license or issue a citation if the person's other identification appears valid.
Gears said the consular ID card might prevent the arrest of people whom police need to identify, but it will not exempt them from arrest for any other crime.
Policy's fairness debated
Gears spoke after a morning meeting with Urrea and about a dozen Hispanic activists. The meeting was the latest chapter in the activists' campaign against Irving's program, which they say unfairly singles out Hispanics.
Gears said that every complaint about racial profiling investigated so far has been found to be untrue.
But Urrea said the complaints continue.
"So we would prefer to sit down and discuss them," he said. "They might have no merit, I don't know. I get these complaints, and I am under pressure to do something about it. ... I have to assume that what my people are telling me is true."
A look at police data, however, suggests that getting illegal immigrants to be more conscientious about carrying identification would put a small dent in deportations.
Only about 9 percent of the suspected illegal immigrants jailed were charged with not having a driver's license, according to Irving police data.
But the data is not clear on how many of them were accused of the lack of a valid driver's license or simply of not having a driver's license in their possession. It also does not show how many of them were also arrested for other offenses.
Local law enforcement
The Irving police's Criminal Alien Program has drawn the ire of Hispanic activists for the high number of suspected illegal immigrants turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE officials said Irving turns over more people than any other North Texas law enforcement agency. Here is a list of the seven top agencies and how many people they turned over last month:
1. Irving police, 170
2. Dallas County Sheriff, 100
3. Collin County Sheriff, 76
4. Grand Prairie police, 47
5. Garland police, 56
6. Farmers Branch police, 48
7. Denton County Sheriff, 43
pmcgee@star-telegram.com |
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