Instilling Fear of Reporting Crimes

For years, there have been numerous warnings of what potentially could happen. If you deputize state and local cops to enforce federal immigration laws, we were told, illegal immigrants would stop reporting crimes.

Those warnings came not only from immigrant rights activists, but from law enforcement authorities, who have been working to build a relationship of trust with the immigrant community.

All over the country, police officials have expressed concern about driving illegal immigrants further underground. They say they would rather hear about serious crimes than catch illegal immigrants who are otherwise not criminals.

Unfortunately, that trust has been broken now. As more states and municipalities take federal laws into their own hands, more illegal immigrants will be reluctant to come out of the shadows, even when their silence jeopardizes the public safety of all Americans.

Can we really blame them for not reporting serious crimes when calling authorities may result in their deportation? As these immigrants hear of more cases of the high price of performing a civic duty, they are likely to let criminals run wild, fires burn and even medical emergencies go unattended.

The ultimate example of how that relationship of cooperation between illegal immigrants and police has been broken occurred in Newark, N.J., this month. That's where a freelance photographer was questioned about his immigration status after reporting to police that he had found a woman's body in a plastic bag.

Instead of expressions of gratitude for leading cops to the scene of a murder, Brazilian photojournalist Geraldo Carlos was asked whether he had a greed card.

Carlos reportedly was taking pictures of a garbage-strewn alley for a newspaper story about illegal dumping when he discovered the corpse. He called Roberto Lima, an editor at the Brazilian Voice newspaper, and together they went to the nearby Newark police station to report the crime. Yet instead of inquiries about his discovery, one of the first questions Carlos was asked was about his own legal status.

The two journalists told The Star-Ledger of Newark that they were shocked when police Deputy Chief Samuel Demaio posed questions that were out of line.

"Do you have a green card?" Demaio reportedly asked Carlos. "Are you here legally?"

When Carlos admitted that his visa had expired, the cops confiscated his camera and demanded that the newspaper turn over all the photos he had taken.

And when Lima objected during a second trip to the police station, he was handcuffed to a bench and detained briefly. Lima is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

The incident has sent shock waves through New Jersey's immigrant community, where many already were expressing concern about a new directive by the New Jersey attorney general ordering police to inquire about the immigration status of anyone arrested for a serious crime.

Although that directive, issued in August, prohibits cops from questioning the immigration status of crime victims or witnesses such as Carlos, immigrant rights activists had warned it was vague and could lead to abuse by police.

Bingo! That's exactly what has happened!

While the directive was justified — it came after an illegal immigrant with a criminal record was charged in the murder of three college students in Newark — the American Civil Liberties Union and the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey had pleaded for clarification of the new guidelines. They felt that law enforcement authorities needed to be told in no uncertain terms that the directive did not apply to victims or witnesses of crimes.

Yet Carlos' story is now making illegal immigrants fearful of reporting crimes, not only in Newark's large Brazilian community, but throughout New Jersey. And there are similar cases causing widespread panic across the nation.

While those who seek strict immigration enforcement keep criticizing cities that refuse to have their cops enforce immigration laws, and while some Republican presidential candidates keep blasting Rudy Giuliani for going only after illegal immigrant criminals when he was the mayor of New York, here's proof that such policies are right.

"After what happened to me — a well-known person, 19 years in the community — no Brazilian in this area will call police to report a crime," Lima told The Star-Ledger. "Even if they see Osama bin Laden himself, they will not call police."

The Star-Ledger reported that Carlos is not only afraid of calling police, but fearful that immigration agents may come knocking on his door.

Ironically, this is not the first time Carlos has helped police in solving crimes. In 2001, Newark police gave him a "Citizens Award" for photographing street criminals. For helping police with photos that resulted in the arrests of 35 crime suspects, he was given a plaque, which notes, "Your untiring efforts have resulted in an improvement in the quality of life for all members of the community."

That's the same quality of life that many cops are now being asked to destroy.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.