Latino community and Sheriff’s Dept. search for common ground
ICE policy revisited
ICE policy revisited
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 1 of 2
Since spring 2008, members of the Latino community have expressed their
concern over the cooperative arrangement between the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Dane County Sheriff’s office when people
who are unable to produce an accepted form of identification and indicate
they are not U.S. citizens are booked into the Dane County Jail and ICE is
notified for identification purposes. While the sheriff’s department is duty-bound
to have a positive identification on all who are housed in the jail for security
reasons, the Latino community has expressed its concern that families are being
negatively and unnecessarily impacted when family members are turned over to
ICE because they are undocumented.
“We’re trying to find a common ground by which we can feel that he is
upholding his responsibility as a sheriff to have a safe environment, but at the
same time, he’s not hurting innocent people who are not criminals, who
shouldn’t be hurting the livelihood of their families, leaving children orphaned when they are deported when all they did was be here trying to earn a living and
contributing to society,” said Sal Carranza, chair of LUChA during a phone interview with The Capital City Hues. “That’s the bottom line. I think in working with
Sheriff Mahoney, we’re trying to find a way where we can be able to identify those who are really criminals and whom we do not want in our midst any way. We’
re fine with him reporting them and having them moved away. No one wants criminals. But people who are not criminals, those are the ones we are concerned
about.”
One of the possible solutions that is being considered is the use of IDs issued by the Mexican consulate to Mexican citizens that have some security
features to prevent counterfeiting and tampering. “The sheriff has been very willing to consider using Mexican consulate IDs,” Carranza said. “And we have that
possibility. As you know, several consulates have a very safe system of providing for identification of their citizens, including the Mexican consulate. They come
here and provide these passports. That’s where we’ve been making progress with the sheriff. He would be more than willing to talk to the consulate. At one point,
the consulate was invited to come to one of our meetings. We’ll be inviting them to come and talk to the sheriff soon and let him know that those IDs are reliable
and are safe. At that point, we hope the sheriff will make the decision to say ‘If you can identify yourself through one of these official ways, that will be enough.’”
According to Mahoney, he has had some contacts with the consulate. “I did meet with members of the Mexican consulate here in early January in preparation
for a group meeting, which actually stemmed from our Disproportionate Minority Incarceration group,” Mahoney said. “As well, there are a number of folks from
the Latino community that I have been meeting with. After this meeting, I had to talk about setting up in-service training and getting some of the technology
they have for identifying their own counterfeit IDs. They would come in and provide some in-service training. We had set up a meeting in late January. I spoke
with two officials down in their governmental relations department. And unfortunately, they never came to the meeting.”
While the sheriff is interested in using the IDs, it is far from being a done deal. “I want to make sure it is an ID that we can ensure a positive identification
and minimize counterfeit IDs and use of them for false IDs,” Mahoney said. “I’m not going to commit at this point to say positively we’re going to replace
Wisconsin identification with that. But I’m certainly looking at the prospect of using it as one more means of positive identification for folks that don’t have or can’
t get either a Wisconsin driver’s license or Wisconsin ID.”
Next issue: The report from ICE on the disposition of Dane County referrals.
contributing to society,” said Sal Carranza, chair of LUChA during a phone interview with The Capital City Hues. “That’s the bottom line. I think in working with
Sheriff Mahoney, we’re trying to find a way where we can be able to identify those who are really criminals and whom we do not want in our midst any way. We’
re fine with him reporting them and having them moved away. No one wants criminals. But people who are not criminals, those are the ones we are concerned
about.”
One of the possible solutions that is being considered is the use of IDs issued by the Mexican consulate to Mexican citizens that have some security
features to prevent counterfeiting and tampering. “The sheriff has been very willing to consider using Mexican consulate IDs,” Carranza said. “And we have that
possibility. As you know, several consulates have a very safe system of providing for identification of their citizens, including the Mexican consulate. They come
here and provide these passports. That’s where we’ve been making progress with the sheriff. He would be more than willing to talk to the consulate. At one point,
the consulate was invited to come to one of our meetings. We’ll be inviting them to come and talk to the sheriff soon and let him know that those IDs are reliable
and are safe. At that point, we hope the sheriff will make the decision to say ‘If you can identify yourself through one of these official ways, that will be enough.’”
According to Mahoney, he has had some contacts with the consulate. “I did meet with members of the Mexican consulate here in early January in preparation
for a group meeting, which actually stemmed from our Disproportionate Minority Incarceration group,” Mahoney said. “As well, there are a number of folks from
the Latino community that I have been meeting with. After this meeting, I had to talk about setting up in-service training and getting some of the technology
they have for identifying their own counterfeit IDs. They would come in and provide some in-service training. We had set up a meeting in late January. I spoke
with two officials down in their governmental relations department. And unfortunately, they never came to the meeting.”
While the sheriff is interested in using the IDs, it is far from being a done deal. “I want to make sure it is an ID that we can ensure a positive identification
and minimize counterfeit IDs and use of them for false IDs,” Mahoney said. “I’m not going to commit at this point to say positively we’re going to replace
Wisconsin identification with that. But I’m certainly looking at the prospect of using it as one more means of positive identification for folks that don’t have or can’
t get either a Wisconsin driver’s license or Wisconsin ID.”
Next issue: The report from ICE on the disposition of Dane County referrals.