HPD capitulates -- won't photograph illegal immigrants
This is disappointing, but not surprising:
The Houston Police Department has instructed officers not to photograph illegal immigrants seeking day jobs, after an incident last month prompted an outcry from an immigrant rights group.
Houston police Capt. Juan Trevino made the pledge to 400 people who attended a meeting Tuesday night organized by The Metropolitan Organization, an interfaith grass-roots political action group.
Trevino said that "an isolated handful of officers" took immigrants' photographs after a business owner on North Shepherd recently complained that they "were walking on private property."
Addressing the TMO gathering in Spanish and English, Trevino said that the Houston police department will work with the organization to encourage immigrant workers to seek work at the east side day labor center.
Not only are officers instructed not to photograph these people, but now HPD will encourage illegal immigrants to get a job! What a crock!
Here's HPD's mission statement:
The mission of the Houston Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in the City of Houston by working cooperatively with the public and within the framework of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear and provide for a safe environment.
So much for enforcing laws, reducing fear and providing a safe environment for U.S. citizens. And nowhere in the mission statement does it say HPD should helpfully tell illegal immigrants where to find employment. Is HPD going to tell them how to get (fake) green cards, too?
Broderick Bagert, an organizer for the TMO, said the community organization welcomed Trevino's comments.
"It had been an issue of real concern because people from the churches in the East End have worked for more than a year and half to win funding for the worker-development center in the East End," Bagert said. "We've been working to staff that, to organize it, and we've really invested in that strategy to deal with day laborers. The second work site has just gotten started in the last few months."
Even though the incident occurred on Houston's north side, Bagert said, there was concern "that the police were going to be intimidating workers. It was seen as a real step back. So we were very concerned about it," Bagert said.
They forgot the sensitivity training.
RELATED: LULAC won't like this (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/06/05 08:16 AM | Print |
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