By James Pinkerton
Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON, Texas — Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt was in Washington on Wednesday, supporting a study criticizing the controversial immigration program known as 287(g), in which his department is planning to participate.
Hurtt said the department has applied for 287(g) training for Houston police to use federal immigration databases but only to check on those booked into the city’s two jails.
He said he favors that portion of the program but is opposed to the street-level phase of the federal immigration law, allowing local and state police to make immigration arrests and process offenders for deportation.
The yearlong study of 287(g) by the nonpartisan Police Foundation was critical of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, concluding it erodes law enforcement’s public safety mission, diverts scarce resources, increases exposure to liability to charges of racial profiling, and heightens fear in communities.
“Immigration enforcement by local police is counterproductive to community policing efforts. It undermines the trust and cooperation of immigrant communities, could lead to charges of racial profiling, and increases our response time to urgent calls for service,” Hurtt said during a Capitol Hill press event in Washington.
In an interview after the news conference, Hurtt said Houston’s participation in 287(g) was a decision Mayor Bill White made after an illegal immigrant shot Houston police officer Rick Salter while he was serving a search warrant this year.
“The mayor, he was the point man on this. It was his idea, and, of course, he consulted with members of the department,” Hurtt said, adding that he supports the screening in city jails.
Targeting felons
“The chief and the mayor are in agreement with all this — the mayor agrees with the chief’s comments (in Washington) today, and the chief agrees with participation in the 287 program in the jail,” said Frank Michel, White’s director of communications. “We want to target people who are deportable felons and prey on our community. Neither the chief or the major would see anything inconsistent in that.”
The ICE training for jailers is supported by the police union, which is pushing for greater authority for police to ask about immigration status during investigations. Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, said the chief is “doing what he’s told, but he’s looking for another job, too, so ...”
Hurtt, who was appointed by White in 2004, recently confirmed he is considering job offers from various agencies, including San Francisco.
Hurtt said joining the jail program will require the assignment of 22 police officers to receive the federal training and cost an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million a year to operate. The chief also said the department pledged years ago it would not allow officers to question residents at random about their immigration status.
“I don’t want my guys out on the street trying to determine which of 32 different visas” an immigrant might be issued is valid, Hurtt said. “I want them to concentrate on keeping Houston safe from thieves, drug dealers, sex offenders, and making sure we maintain the trust and support of everybody who lives in Houston, and that means members of the immigrant community we serve.”
‘Hypocritical’
Leaders in the immigrant community were consulted about the jail checks and “reluctantly” support the effort because it affects only those who are arrested, Hurtt said.
“They have warned us they would be awfully upset if we violated their trust and starting stopping people on the street and asking them about their citizenship status,” he said.
Immigration activist Nelson Reyes termed the jail checks a “hypocritical” reversal of officials’ support of an influx of immigrants.
“We appreciate their position before, when they said, ‘We won’t do it, no matter what pressure we get from the anti-immigration people,’” said Reyes, executive director of the Central American Refugee Center. “I don’t think that is a good way of showing leadership to our community.”
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle