By Jeff Frantz
The Hanover Evening Sun (Pennsylvania)
The Adams County District Attorney’s office has one detective. His salary is paid by a grant tied to preventing domestic violence, and those are the cases he works. Even if a bill proposed this week eventually overhauls how Pennsylvania deals with illegal immigrants, domestic violence will still be that detective’s top priority, said Adams County District Attorney Shawn Wagner.
The bill, as introduced by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, does not include new funding for law enforcement. Wagner and York County District Attorney Tom Kearney said they don’t have the resources to make investigating business suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, which the new law would task them with doing, a top priority.
Some police chiefs wondered if their officers - who would have to check immigration status every time they stopped or arrested someone they suspected was in the country illegally - would be tied up for long periods at traffic stops, or exposed to civil rights lawsuits.
Other chiefs, mainly those who said their officers now deal with illegal immigrants on a somewhat routine basis, were more concerned that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not be able to expand its capacity quickly enough.
All these law enforcement officials said they did not yet know enough about the bill, based on a controversial law recently enacted in Arizona, to know if it is a good or a bad thing. They were not discussing the politics, only the logistics.
When he heard details of the proposal, West Manheim Township Police Chief Tim Hippensteel envisioned one thing:
One of his officers standing next to a car for half an hour, waiting to learn if the driver who blew a stop sign is a legal resident of the country. That’s a lot of manpower tied up for a relatively long time in a small department, Hippensteel said.
Right now, police cannot check immigration status from their car computers or with a simple radio call. They must contact county control, which then contacts ICE, which does the check. The process usually takes 15-30 minutes, Hippensteel said, but sometimes it is longer.
If the law passes, said York City Police Chief Wes Kahley, he hopes the state gives police departments better access to federal databases - and more manpower. If not, he said, the legislature will have given local departments an added expense.
Hippensteel, who said his department deals with illegal immigrants “very minimally,” wonders how the new system would be structured.
“Let’s say we get a hit and he or she is an illegal immigrant,” Hippensteel said “What do we do? Is that our burden to make an arrest? Do we detain and wait for ICE? Turn them over to the sheriff?”
He is also concerned that his officers could be accused of racial profiling when checking the immigration status of someone they’ve stopped. He could see a lawsuit.
“I think there should be stronger guidelines if it becomes our duty to determine who needs to be checked and who doesn’t,” Hippensteel said.
The police chiefs in Biglerville and Littlestown said they don’t anticipate any particular challenges for their departments if the bill is passed.
“More or less, it’s one more step,” said Biglerville Police Chief Gary Lanious.
Littlestown Police Chief Charles Kellar said his department already checks immigration status when someone is picked up for another violation, and their status is in question.
Kellar is concerned with response time. If immigration officials need to be called in, he would want a quick response so his officers are not stuck at a traffic stop.
“We’ll do what we have to do,” Kellar said.
The majority of illegal immigrants Eastern Adams Regional Police officers come across - 95 percent, estimates Chief Robert Then - freely admit they don’t have a right to be in the country.
Most illegal immigrants don’t have drivers licenses or other valid I.D. When officers encounter illegal immigrants, maybe three times a week, Then said, it’s usually at a traffic stop, or a domestic dispute or men scuffling at a bar.
They report the illegal immigrants to ICE, Then said. If the person is going to prison on charges, ICE will check on them there. If the person is not charged or is being released, ICE often takes information for a later follow up.
Since the proposal makes being an illegal immigrant a misdemeanor, Then said, he assumes anyone picked up would be processed and sent to the prison, where they would become ICE’s responsibility.
Pennsylvania State Police in both counties now check immigration status if a person stopped or arrested can’t prove who they are. If they don’t have any identification and can’t offer a name and birth date that can be found in a computer, troopers might fingerprint the person, said Sgt. Robert Gano, who commands the Gettysburg barracks.
Currently, ICE does not detain illegal immigrants unless they have committed another crime or have previously not followed a deportation order, said Mark Medvesky, the department’s spokesman for Pennsylvania. Most cases, he said, are handled through administrative procedures.
He declined to comment on Metcalfe’s proposal.
The bill calls for police departments to investigate individuals but district attorneys to check on businesses.
That, Kearney said, doesn’t make sense. When a police officer stops a person with drugs, he said, they ask the person where they got the drugs, and follow up from there. It’s only logical that an officer stopping an illegal immigrant would ask where they live and work. Transferring the investigation after that point would mean duplicating efforts, he said.
And there might not always be someone to pick that work up, said Wagner.
“From what I’ve seen,” Wagner said, “it would put a terrible burden on a district attorney and his staff - especially a smaller DA.”
Kearney has a bigger office, 77 people and 11 detectives. But those detectives work on the drug task force, do follow up work for prosecutors preparing cases for trial and, when asked, aid local departments.
He doesn’t envision the county expanding his budget to pay for an immigration unit. If the law were passed, he would have to prioritize.
“They might be here illegally and taking someone’s job,” Kearney said, “but when you compare that with someone who has assaulted someone and left them in a vegetative state, you know where I have to put my resources.”
Evening Sun Reporter Steve Marroni contributed to this report.
If passed, House Bill 2479, would:
Require an employer to verify a prospective employee’s immigration status. Lying about immigration status would be a second-degree misdemeanor.
Require a law enforcement officer to verify a person’s immigration status if the officer reasonably suspects that a person legally stopped, detained or arrested is in the country illegally. An officer could not inquire about people’s immigration status if they were not first stopped for another offense.
Require county district attorneys to investigate companies suspected of employing illegal immigrants. Companies caught knowingly doing so could lose access to state grants and their licenses to operate.
Create a third-degree felony for the intentional smuggling of illegal aliens into Pennsylvania. Police would be able to impound smugglers’ vehicles.
According to the office of the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, Ron Miller , R-Jacobus; Will Tallman, R-Reading Township, Adams County; and Seth Grove , R-Dover Township, are co-sponsors. Rep. Scott Perry has said he will likely also be a co-sponsor.
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