Enquirer: Butler Co. sheriff asks feds to help - Applies for training to cut illegal immigration
Following on the heels of Local Law Enforcement and Illegal Immigraiton covering the Lou Dobbs Tonight report comes this local development:
Butler Co. sheriff asks feds to help:
Butler Co. sheriff asks feds to help:
HAMILTON - Butler County sheriff's deputies could be the first in Ohio to receive federal immigration law-enforcement training so they can work to reduce the problem of illegal immigration here, officials said Thursday.
Butler County commissioners approved Sheriff Richard Jones' request for 10 deputies to undergo five weeks of training from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency
If the federal agency approves the application, deputies must work under the supervision and direction of ICE, not Jones, said sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Gebhart, who oversees administrative services.
The deputies also won't be solely dedicated to immigration enforcement, he noted.
"We won't be going out and rounding up folks on the corner," Commissioner Mike Fox said. "There are 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants in the whole country and you have 5,700 ICE agents trying to enforce the law and you have 800,000 police agencies.
"Clearly, if we are serious about focusing on illegal immigration laws, the partnership we are entering into today is one of the best ways to do this," Fox said.
The county won't know for a few more weeks or possibly months, however, whether the deputies have been approved for the training. Approval comes from ICE's Washington headquarters.
Nearly 150 law enforcement officers in seven agencies from five states - Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida and North Carolina - have completed training since 2002, said Michael Gilhooly, an ICE spokesman in Williston, Vt.
Another 12 law enforcement agencies across the country are working with ICE to receive the training, he said, declining to elaborate on which ones.
While ICE officials confirmed Thursday that Butler County applied this summer, they could not predict when - or if - the sheriff's office would be approved.
Butler officials said they have been told ICE would send an agent to the county to train officers and equip deputies with computers and other tools to identify illegal immigrants. The only cost to county taxpayers, they said, would be the daily salary of the deputies as they attend the class.
Gilhooly said he could not provide specifics on Butler's case.
Posted by Porkopolis at 8/11/2006 09:47:00 AM
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Immigrants: They are people first
God created and loved.
They have earnest lives and tragic deaths. How do we treat the undocumented workers in our midst?
With the same compassion and respect we afford other human beings. Some are here to work and return to their home countries, as many do throughout the world. But, if we are fortunate, they will choose to stay, raise their children and make the same contributions all past generations of immigrants have. The presence of brother and sisters from different cultures should be celebrated as a gift. When we enrich each other with our diversity, we become what God envisioned when he told the Israelites: "You too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves." Human respect for our fellow man is a much more uplifting human response to immigrants. Immigrants simply want to survive and provide a future for their families. It is so limited and tortuous now that the only solution for so many long-suffering good people who would rather be legal is to become illegal for the sake of there families survival. We need to reestablish hope instead of fear that has become their primary emotion. We need to respect their rich culture and active faith. I will continue to support their human rights. This country holds the promise of a better way of life for most. What impresses me most, in the Hispanic population is their willingness to work hard for the money that they earn. The pride that they demonstrate in the fact that there families come before all else.
Do you have indoor plumbing?
Do you have running water?
Does your home consist of one room with a dirt floor?
Did you get a chance to complete elementary school?
Do you make more than $4.57 a day?
These are the things we in this country take for granted.
We need to promote peace, justice and respect for our immigrant brothers and sisters. Who are in search for a better life.
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