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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS SEEK STATEWIDE GUIDELINES ON COOPERATION BETWEEN POLICE AND THE INS
Last week we reported on several police departments in California coming under fire for their treatment of undocumented immigrants, particularly the practice of picking them up based on their status, or based on minor violations, and taking them to the INS for deportation.  Now several California state legislators have asked the state attorney general to consider the development of guidelines on the issue that could be used throughout the state.  According to the legislators, the immigrants are not being given due process when the police department decline to press charges and instead send them to the INS.

Many of the undocumented immigrants taken to the INS for deportation are arrested for petty offenses, such as vending without a license or driving an unregistered car.  Law enforcement officials say that since they are picking people up for offenses they are not engaging in racial profiling, which many critics say is occurring. 

The reaction to the idea of statewide guidelines from police departments has generally been favorable.  They say that they would appreciate clearer guidelines about interacting with the INS, believing that it would simplify their jobs and also eliminate many of the claims of racial profiling.