What problems accompany immigration to the U.S., and what kinds of approaches are some police agencies taking to attempt to address the problems?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Immigration to the United States presents a vexing problem. On the one hand, the nation is richer in culture, diversity, and civilization as it is reshaped by people from around the world. However, immigration potentially carries illegal and dangerous aspects that threaten the nation’s security.

A primary problem regarding immigration to the U.S. involves the enforcement of illegal immigration. The view of many local police is that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. They believe that immigration enforcement at the state and local levels diverts limited resources and so local police should therefore not be charged with the federal government’s role in enforcing federal immigration laws. They also believe that their priority is to build trust with residents, apprehend criminals, and maintain public safety. The enforcement of federal immigration law poses threats to community policing efforts and to existing relationships with immigrant communities. Tensions between local and federal governments over the issue can be seen with “sanctuary cities” – cities known to protect undocumented immigrants from being deported. Sanctuary cities argue that a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program that uses local law enforcement to help identify undocumented immigrants living in the country was being abused by ICE to round up people who had been arrested for nonviolent, minor crimes. ICE, however, argues that potentially dangerous immigrants are set free by sanctuary cities.

Local police cannot entirely divorce themselves from the burden of dealing with undocumented aliens. They will often come into frequent contact with immigrants, and thus should possess a working knowledge of immigration law and policy. A federal training program is available to train officers in such areas as determining immigrant/nonimmigrant status, identifying false identification, and notifying foreign nationals’ embassy or consulate.