Local governments must be willing to take on immigration

There has been a lot of discussion lately concerning whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio should notify Mesa Police Chief George Gascón prior to conducting immigration sweeps in Mesa.

Of course he should. It’s not only a matter of professional courtesy but, more importantly, safety.

That said, Arpaio is using an immigration enforcement cross-training program that I’ve wanted to implement in Mesa for more than seven years now. I want to compliment Arpaio on his ability to get his officers cross-trained. Even though I first broached the idea in January 2001, I simply haven’t been able to get it done.

When I first brought up the idea of cross-training Mesa officers more than eight months before Sept. 11, the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens marched on City Hall and put me on something they called “Keno watch.”

Phil Austin, MAHC president, led the opposition group. But he wasn’t alone in his criticism. The Arizona Republic’s Editorial Board said that my idea “mocked convention and common sense,” and the East Valley Tribune ran political cartoons predicting how my stance on immigration enforcement would be my downfall. But despite significant criticism, I wasn’t deterred.

That is, until I found out that the guidelines for a cross-training program made possible through a 1996 addition to the Immigration and Nationality Act didn’t exist yet. So, I dropped it.

Then, in February 2004, I broached the idea of citing people who hire day laborers. Again, critics called the idea “irresponsible.” But, despite the condemnation, I remained concerned about the significant impact that illegal immigrants were having on our community, including our hospitals, schools and jails. So, in the fall of 2006, I requested that the Mesa City Council receive an update on immigration efforts at the local, state and federal level.

At that meeting, I asked the Mesa City Council to support participating in a 287(g) cross-training agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to provide Mesa police officers with some immigration enforcement powers.

The program, first implemented in July 2002 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, now has 47 active memorandums of agreement with law enforcement agencies across the country. Another 90 agencies are now waiting for the training. Yet, despite its widespread acceptance, only District 6 Councilman Scott Somers joined me in supporting the measure.

The majority of the council felt it was more appropriate to support a cross-training agreement at the regional or state level instead.

Finally, in December, the Mesa City Council took a step toward addressing immigration problems in Mesa and voted unanimously to ask Immigration and Customs Enforcement about cross-training for the city’s holding facility.

Now, more than four months later, Mesa is still awaiting further direction from ICE to finalize a memorandum of agreement and start cross-training officers.

As I said in my 2008 State of the City address earlier this year, “We can no longer sit back and hope that Congress will pass meaningful immigration reform.” The burden that illegal immigration continues to place on our education and health care systems is substantial and I remain concerned about the growing resentment that is splintering our community.

While we can hope that the federal government will step up and do its job, local governments must be open to using every tool available to address this pervasive problem.

Keno Hawker is mayor of Mesa.