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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/6/27/152358.shtml?s=lh
Fla. Sheriff's Illegal Alien Task Force Questioned
NewsMax.com Wires Thursday, June 28, 2007
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- The sheriff's department has developed a
remarkably effective - and controversial - way of catching illegal
immigrants: Deputies in patrol cars pull up to a construction site in force,
and watch and see who runs.
Those who take off are chased down and arrested on charges such as
trespassing, for cutting through someone else's property, or loitering, for
hiding out in someone's yard, or reckless driving, for speeding off in a
car.
U.S. immigration authorities are then given the names of those believed to
be in this country illegally.
"It's not wrong for them to run, but it's not wrong for us to chase them
either," said Sheriff Frank McKeithen, who created his Illegal Alien Task
Force in April to target construction sites in this Florida Panhandle
county.
Immigrant advocates say the technique is repugnant, and the ACLU says its
constitutionality is questionable.
Illegal immigrants are leaving town. And builders are worried the crackdown
will deprive them of the labor they need to take part in a building boom in
which Panama City's Beach cheap spring-break motels are being torn down and
replaced with high-rise condos.
The sheriff said the raids are justified under a long-standing Florida law
prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
His department has conducted dozens of these raids over the past three
months, sometimes using five or six patrol cars, and has reported more than
500 people to immigration officials since November.
The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund is investigating the arrests because
"the intimidation factor is of great concern," said Elise Shore, regional
counsel for the organization.
Benjamin Stevenson, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in
Florida, said he finds the tactic troubling.
"Why are they sending out six or seven agents to investigate a paper crime,
and are they causing them to run in the first place through intimidation?"
he asked.
As the debate over illegal immigration plays out in Washington, McKeithen is
among a growing number of state and local officials taking it upon
themselves to enforce immigration laws that up to now were regarded as a
federal responsibility.
For example, Farmers Branch, Texas, is trying to prohibit apartment rentals
to illegal immigrants in the Dallas suburb. Georgia passed a law requiring
employers to verify the immigration status of all new employees.
Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
in Miami, would not comment on the sheriff's tactics.
McKeithen has asked Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum for a legal
opinion on his tactics. A spokeswoman for McCollum said the office is
researching the request.
McKeithen is already under fire from civil rights groups over the videotaped
2006 death of a 14-year-old boy who was roughed up by guards at a juvenile
boot camp operated by the sheriff's department. Eight former employees are
facing manslaughter charges.
The sheriff said that more recently, his officers have been making fewer
arrests of workers who flee, and are concentrating more on asking employers
for the paperwork on their employees. Sheriff's deputies then arrest workers
whose documents are found to be fraudulent.
Mexican illegal immigrant Jose Madrid, 28, said he has been unable to find a
construction job over the past six weeks because of the crackdown, and
hasn't been able to send money to his parents and his 7-year-old son back
home.
"We immigrants, we are leaving Panama City. People are afraid they will be
deported," he said. "The companies don't want to hire illegal people. Now
they're only hiring those with papers."
Developer Louis Breland is finishing the first phase of a $750 million beach
condo project.
"Subcontractors could not function without immigrant laborers for painting,
rebar and steel work. They are the best workers," he said. "Without them,
the cost of construction would be 10 times as much and nothing would get
built."
Fla. Sheriff's Illegal Alien Task Force Questioned
NewsMax.com Wires Thursday, June 28, 2007
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- The sheriff's department has developed a
remarkably effective - and controversial - way of catching illegal
immigrants: Deputies in patrol cars pull up to a construction site in force,
and watch and see who runs.
Those who take off are chased down and arrested on charges such as
trespassing, for cutting through someone else's property, or loitering, for
hiding out in someone's yard, or reckless driving, for speeding off in a
car.
U.S. immigration authorities are then given the names of those believed to
be in this country illegally.
"It's not wrong for them to run, but it's not wrong for us to chase them
either," said Sheriff Frank McKeithen, who created his Illegal Alien Task
Force in April to target construction sites in this Florida Panhandle
county.
Immigrant advocates say the technique is repugnant, and the ACLU says its
constitutionality is questionable.
Illegal immigrants are leaving town. And builders are worried the crackdown
will deprive them of the labor they need to take part in a building boom in
which Panama City's Beach cheap spring-break motels are being torn down and
replaced with high-rise condos.
The sheriff said the raids are justified under a long-standing Florida law
prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
His department has conducted dozens of these raids over the past three
months, sometimes using five or six patrol cars, and has reported more than
500 people to immigration officials since November.
The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund is investigating the arrests because
"the intimidation factor is of great concern," said Elise Shore, regional
counsel for the organization.
Benjamin Stevenson, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in
Florida, said he finds the tactic troubling.
"Why are they sending out six or seven agents to investigate a paper crime,
and are they causing them to run in the first place through intimidation?"
he asked.
As the debate over illegal immigration plays out in Washington, McKeithen is
among a growing number of state and local officials taking it upon
themselves to enforce immigration laws that up to now were regarded as a
federal responsibility.
For example, Farmers Branch, Texas, is trying to prohibit apartment rentals
to illegal immigrants in the Dallas suburb. Georgia passed a law requiring
employers to verify the immigration status of all new employees.
Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
in Miami, would not comment on the sheriff's tactics.
McKeithen has asked Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum for a legal
opinion on his tactics. A spokeswoman for McCollum said the office is
researching the request.
McKeithen is already under fire from civil rights groups over the videotaped
2006 death of a 14-year-old boy who was roughed up by guards at a juvenile
boot camp operated by the sheriff's department. Eight former employees are
facing manslaughter charges.
The sheriff said that more recently, his officers have been making fewer
arrests of workers who flee, and are concentrating more on asking employers
for the paperwork on their employees. Sheriff's deputies then arrest workers
whose documents are found to be fraudulent.
Mexican illegal immigrant Jose Madrid, 28, said he has been unable to find a
construction job over the past six weeks because of the crackdown, and
hasn't been able to send money to his parents and his 7-year-old son back
home.
"We immigrants, we are leaving Panama City. People are afraid they will be
deported," he said. "The companies don't want to hire illegal people. Now
they're only hiring those with papers."
Developer Louis Breland is finishing the first phase of a $750 million beach
condo project.
"Subcontractors could not function without immigrant laborers for painting,
rebar and steel work. They are the best workers," he said. "Without them,
the cost of construction would be 10 times as much and nothing would get
built."
