Esserman

PROVIDENCE — Police Chief Dean Esserman has put himself squarely in opposition to Governor Carcieri’s suggestion that local law-enforcement agencies investigate the immigration status of individuals they take into their custody.

Esserman said yesterday that he does believe the police have a responsibility to forward to the attention of federal agents any information about illegal immigrants whose status they have come upon “inadvertently.” But he said the responsibility should not extend to investigating the immigration status of people they have arrested or suspect may have been involved in other crimes.

“I am opposed to a proactive role because of the chilling effect it would have on our being able to have people have trust in us and to report crimes,” said Esserman.

“We know almost half the crime in this nation goes unreported. We need people to feel comfortable coming to us to a report a crime. But they may not have that trust and comfort if we are searching out people on immigration violations.”

On March 27, Governor Carcieri issued an executive order that directs various state agencies to take steps aimed at curbing illegal immigration into Rhode Island, including the introduction of an E-Verify system to electronically verify whether people who apply to work for certain state agencies have valid Social Security numbers.

It also directs every department and state agency in the Executive Branch to notify people whose identity has been stolen or improperly used by others for the purpose of receiving health care, child care, driver’s licenses or welfare and employment.

But also in Carcieri’s order is directive number 6: “It is urged that all enforcement officials, including state and local law-enforcement agencies take steps to support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by investigating and determining the immigration status of all non-citizens taken into custody, incarcerated, or under investigation for any crime and notifying federal authorities of all illegal immigrants discovered as a result of such investigations.”

Esserman had said initially yesterday that the Police Department, as a matter of standard procedure, notifies the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the names of all illegal immigrants who have been booked and arraigned by Providence police. But he later acknowledged that Providence police don’t do any investigation on their own but simply fax to ICE a copy of their arraignment sheet, which shows the names of anyone who has been arraigned that day.

He noted that a memo from Mayor David N. Cicilline, issued last year, instructs members not to make any immigration checks during motor-vehicle stops.

But Esserman said his own aversion to local police seeking out illegal immigrants is widely shared by other urban police chiefs around the country, including those who were at a Law Enforcement Immigration Summit he attended in Washington, D.C., last November, hosted by the federal government and the Police Executive Research Forum.

“There is no question the City of Providence is in the company of larger cities across the nation in not choosing to take a proactive aggressive posture in becoming the local immigration police.”

According to the chief, it is standard for police officers to get background checks via computers for anyone they encounter even in a traffic stop, but the computer check does not provide them with any information on the individual’s immigration status.

Carcieri has said that he cannot understand why anyone would object to “common sense” measures that could help to ensure that the laws are followed and that taxpayers are not burdened by a continued influx of illegal immigrants.

Yesterday, Mayor Cicilline said he would not disagree with aspects of Governor Carcieri’s executive order — such as notifying people whose identity has been stolen or improperly used to obtain driver’s licenses.

“This is not a debate over whether someone supports illegal immigration,” Cicilline said.

“No responsible person supports illegal immigration. But the notion that we should shift the responsibility down to the states is bad policy.”

And as far as he’s concerned, Cicilline said, his chief is doing the right thing.

“I fully support him on this. I will continue to allow the chief to manage the department with my full confidence.”

rdujardi@projo.com