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PHOENIX — A police officer’s death at the hands of an illegal immigrant intensified attention on a recurring situation that frustrates authorities: immigrants who are deported after committing crimes can easily sneak back into the country to break the law again.
Weaknesses in border security and blindspots in immigration policies are cited as the key reasons for authorities not being able to stop the re-entries.
Local authorities said the federal government’s inadequate border security is largely to blame.
Yet they are divided on whether local police ought to question criminal suspects about their immigration status or whether that duty should continue to be left up to federal immigration agents.
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“We have a virtually open border and people are coming and going almost at will, and that is completely unacceptable,” said Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, noting that it’s fairly common for deported criminal immigrants to re-enter the country and commit other crimes.
While advocates for tougher immigration enforcement have long complained about such re-entries, the death of Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle on Tuesday brought louder calls for an end to the problem.
The officer was fatally shot by 22-year-old Erik Jovani Martinez, an illegal immigrant who was later fatally shot by police as he pointed a gun at a carjacking victim’s head.
Martinez was deported last year, and at some point re-entered the country illegally. Martinez was later arrested for misdemeanor assault in Scottsdale. The arresting officer didn’t check Martinez’s immigration status.
Sgt. Mark Clark, a Scottsdale police spokesman, said the officer found nothing in a check of local, state and federal records that indicated Martinez was an illegal immigrant or that he should call federal authorities to check his immigration status.
Martinez spoke immaculate English, held a job and had lived in Arizona for years, Clark said.
“He had all the ties to the community of a person who is supposed to be here,” Clark said.
Another Phoenix police officer, Marc Atkinson, was killed in 1999 by an illegal immigrant who had been sent back to Mexico and re-entered the United States.
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said the federal government’s inability to secure the border and provide its immigration agencies with sufficient resources contributes to the flow of criminal immigrants into the country.
Local and state governments, which have a role in confronting the effects of illegal immigration, aren’t in a position to secure the border, Gordon said.
Spokesmen for the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, declined to comment.
Retired ICE agent Russell Ahr said stopping all illegal border crossings isn’t feasible given the large volume of people sneaking into the country and the limited resources of the U.S. government to confront the problem.
Criminal immigrants have continued to re-enter the country even as security along the country’s southern border has tightened over the last five years, Ahr said.
That the re-entries continue isn’t a sign that federal immigration agents, who have limited resources for a big job, are neglecting their duties, Ahr said.
While still blaming the federal government for failing to secure the border, some advocates for tougher immigration enforcement said local authorities need to do more.
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors tougher immigration enforcement, said local authorities have turned a blind eye by maintaining policies that prohibit officers from arresting people whose only violation is an infraction of federal immigration law.
“Some innocent party ends up paying the price,” Mehlman said.
Angela Kelley, director of the pro-immigrant Immigration Policy Center at the American Immigration Law Foundation, said local enforcement jeopardizes the trust police have built in migrant communities.
It also would detract from the traditional role that local police play in cracking down on thefts, violence and other crimes, Kelley said.
Last year, Arizona voters approved a law that denies bail to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes such as murder, sexual assault and kidnapping.
Thomas said all police agencies are required to ask people suspected of serious crimes about their immigration status, but departments should pose the question for lesser offenses, too.
The Maricopa County prosecutor said local police and authorities also need to fully embrace a state immigrant smuggling law.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s office, which runs the jails where other agencies bring suspects, had 60 of its jail officers trained in federal immigration law so they could check the immigration status of those arrested.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he aims to keep illegal immigrants charged with state crimes locked up.
If a judge releases an illegal immigrant on bond, Arpaio said his office contacts federal authorities so they can deport the suspect.
“They all sneak back,” Arpaio said. “That’s why we’ve got to catch them and throw them in jail.”
Associated Press writer Terry Tang contributed to this report.
FRANK L KINNEY wrote on Oct 1, 2007 7:55 AM: