Experts discuss impact of illegal immigration actions taken in past

Measures against illegal immigration along the border between Mexico and San Diego County have had repercussions in Arizona over the years.

Legal, academic and immigration experts address that history and other questions below:

Question: In 1994, the federal government launched Operation Gatekeeper to gain control over illegal immigration on the San Diego-Mexico border. What was the result?

Answer: The traffic moved east. Apprehensions in the San Diego sector have fallen significantly since the mid-1990s: from 450,152 in fiscal 1994 to 118,721 in fiscal 2009, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

In the Tucson sector, they have risen from 139,473 in fiscal 1994 to 241,673 in 2009, though the peak — 616,346 — was in fiscal 2000.

“The idea was that if you controlled places more built up like El Paso and San Diego, that fewer people would be stupid enough to cross the border in Arizona,” said Peter Nuñez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego. “Obviously that assumption proved inaccurate. … The government didn’t anticipate the callousness of the smugglers and the degree of desperation.”

Question: Has the tightened San Diego border had any effect on local smuggling patterns?

Answer: Marine smuggling has increased significantly during the past three years, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

U.S. authorities made 430 arrests of migrants or smugglers in Southern California during fiscal 2009, up from 230 in 2008. In the first six months of 2010, authorities have made at least 550 arrests related to marine smuggling. The most recent case occurred Tuesday, when authorities took in 18 people who landed at Camp Pendleton.

Question: California voters in 1994 passed Proposition 187, which barred illegal immigrants from receiving public education and other services, although key provisions were later struck down in court. Can any parallels be drawn with Arizona’s move to give local law enforcement greater authority to enforce federal immigration laws?

Answer: The two measures are very different, but “both happened during recession years,” said George Vernez of the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica. “When you have a recession, you have revenues decline. When revenues decline, you have to raise taxes or cut services. When you cut services, there are citizens who say, ‘Why should my services be cut when some people who should not be here are getting the services?’ ”

Question: What argument would best support the Obama administration’s contentions that Arizona’s immigration law is illegal?

Answer: “You need to rely on the Supremacy Clause, which essentially says that federal law is the supreme law of the land,” said David Steinberg , a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. “Your argument is that there is already a federal immigration law on the books, and the federal government has the authority to regulate immigration and state governments do not.”

Question: How might one best support Arizona’s argument?

Answer: “In many areas, federal and state governments legislate concurrently,” Steinberg said, citing drug-possession laws as one example.

Question: Is the Arizona law raising any concerns here?

Answer: “We’re watching carefully for cases of local police feeling emboldened to act as immigration police, and we invite the community to contact us about such abuses if they occur,”said Kevin Keenan, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties. “The Obama administration’s lawsuit is a much-needed signal that renegade state laws should not be tolerated.”

Question: Federal immigration reform legislation aside, are there measures the federal government can take immediately?

Answer: “We have some tools available now if the president and Congress would use them,” Nuñez said. He advocates better enforcement at the border and in the workplace. “If you turn off the jobs magnet, you’re going to turn off the incentive for many people to come here illegally.”

Question: What role do law-enforcement agencies in San Diego County play in immigration detentions?

Answer: Lauren Mack, the ICE spokeswoman in San Diego, said her agency collaborates with police across the United States.

To date, 71 agencies in 26 states have received training under a formal agreement with ICE known as the 287(g) program, which allows local police to conduct immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions.

No agencies in San Diego County have signed up.

Under the Secure Communities Program, ICE collaborates with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to verify the immigration status of all inmates. Those deemed deportable are turned over to ICE before they can be released.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/07/experts-discuss-impact-illegal-immigration-actions/