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DelawareNative
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| Joined: | Thu May 10th, 2007 |
| Location: | Delaware USA |
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Posted: Mon Oct 13th, 2008 03:05 am |
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When the state gets serious about enforcing legal immigration, these problems will go away.
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mikeshort
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| Joined: | Thu Jan 24th, 2008 |
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Posted: Sun Oct 5th, 2008 09:01 pm |
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By Michael Short
Sussex Post
GEORGETOWN - Georgetown's police have tried to work closely with the town's large Hispanic population in an effort to fight crime and safeguard all of its citizens, including that growing Hispanic population.
But those efforts often produce little but frustration.
That's because many members of the community fear the police. Fueled by language barriers, a declining economy and uncertainty, they fear that police and immigration officials are one and the same.
Those concerns prompted an emergency meeting on Oct. 2 of the Delaware Safety Campaign, a group which has tried to bridge the gap between the police and the Hispanic community. Among other initiatives, the group has worked to try to encourage people to call 911 to report emergencies.
"Many residents of the community are suffering - including the children who are living in fear of losing a parent and the businesses who are losing employees and customers," according to the meeting notice. "The recent tactics used by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials are creating a fear of all law enforcement, which is totally counterproductive to the Delaware Safety Campaign and the trust and collaboration that we have all worked so hard to establish. We request your presence and participation to continue an open dialogue to see how, as a community, we can best support each other."
The frustration was almost palpable among the dozens of community leaders, pastors and residents who gathered. Among those in attendance were representatives from Senator Tom Carper and Congressman Michael Castle. There were also several local pastors as well as town officials.
Members of the community said they live in fear of a knock at the door. Pastor Rene Knight said that when ICE officials knock on a door and cannot find who they are looking for, they start rounding up anybody else.
"People see ICE equals police," he said. "People are afraid."
"We don't want people feeling afraid of local law enforcement," said Kevin Andrade, who hosts a Spanish radio show on WGMD and who moderated the discussion. "I understand local police are not immigration...But two weeks ago, Immigration visited Georgetown and people have started to be afraid again about the local police."
The Georgetown Police Department garnered praise from many for its efforts to have bilingual officers and for other outreach efforts. But that wasn't the case for some agencies or police departments. Margaret Reyes, who serves on the governor's Advisory Council on Hispanic Affairs, said that some officials discriminate against Hispanics routinely. "They need to realize that just because you speak Spanish, you aren't illegal."
Georgetown Police Chief William Topping has often said his officers are not immigration officials. They are only interested in protecting the town's population and enforcing the law, not deporting immigrants, he has said.
On Thursday, he repeated it. "If you have not committed a crime, the knock on the door is nothing to be afraid of," he said.
But horror stories abounded Thursday, stories of mothers taken from children, people allegedly being intimidated by immigration officials and being deported after little more than a jaywalking offense. While the fear is real, Chief Topping said some of those stories don't tell the full story.
When one speaker described a house full of people being led away in handcuffs, Chief Topping said the other side of that story was that those people had allegedly been harboring a man wanted for rape. He said such miscommunication and misunderstanding can only make a bad situation worse.
A national debate where immigrants are often blamed does not help," he said. "Immigrants are an easy target. Illegal immigrants are an easier target," he said.
Despite their efforts to get the Hispanic community to work with them to help solve crimes and to report crimes, the Georgetown Police have gotten almost no response. "Not one person has come to that police department to report anything, not one," he said. "Not one community leader, not one person, has called me and said what happened...Nobody wants to talk to us. It is so frustrating."
The frustration prompted a discussion at the end of the meeting about disbanding the Delaware Safety Campaign or perhaps focusing more on drinking and driving or other different messages. The group decided to continue, but to review the messages on which it focuses.
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