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Last Updated: Apr 9, 2007 - 12:46:40 AM |
Major U.S. cities are resisting helping federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in catching illegal immigrants, USA Today reported Tuesday.
While ICE has gained the support of state police in Alabama and Florida and about five other sheriff's and corrections agencies in the south, many major city mayors and police chiefs are not willing to get involved, the report said.
The Major Cities Chiefs Association, which represents 57 big city police chiefs, said helping identify those suspected only of being in the country illegally could backfire.
"Vulnerable people have always needed to see the police as being there to protect and serve, and that can't happen when the first words out of a cop's mouth are, 'I need to see your papers,'" Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said.
Chicago police and city workers have been prohibited from asking immigrants about their legal status, and New York City's public hospitals said they would keep an immigrant's legal status secret, the newspaper said.
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