Pursuit of illegal immigrants isn't local responsibility

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Imagine living in a state where local police officers can stop anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally, and arrest them if they lack proof of citizenship. Last month, Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri signed an executive order directing state police to enforce federal immigration law, which will let them do just that.

The order is designed to relieve a financial burden on Rhode Island's residents. But few reforms could make residents less safe.

From Phoenix, Ariz., to Prince William County, Va., from big-city mayors to small-town councilmen, lawmakers like Gov. Carcieri are starting to use local police to root out undocumented residents.

The laws are grounded in a 1996 immigration reform act that lets federal officers train local police to help catch undocumented immigrants.

At first glance, orders like Carcieri's look ideal. The federal government gets help dealing with the 12 million people who are in the country illegally; local police get free training and more authority; and tax-paying citizens dispose of the unauthorized residents straining their budgets. But it's hardly that simple.

To begin, such laws make communities less safe by discouraging immigrants from cooperating with local police. Police depend on residents to report crimes and identify criminals. But when immigrants fear that talking to officers may lead to their deportation, they remain quiet.

Proponents of reforms like Rhode Island's argue that immigrants bring more crime to neighborhoods. They are wrong. Evidence overwhelmingly shows that immigrants — documented or not — commit less crime than U.S. natives. The erosion of public trust is not just bad for immigrants; it is bad for whole neighborhoods.

Politicians like Carcieri tend to cast such reforms as cost-saving measures, which will relieve the strains placed on public services by undocumented immigrants. "We barely have enough resources to take care of the neediest amongst us who are here legally," Carcieri said in defense of the order.

But tasking local police with enforcing federal immigration law doesn't come close to saving costs. Finding, arresting and processing undocumented immigrants is expensive. Prince William County, which passed a similar order last year, estimates having to spend $26 million to enforce the law over the next five years, and its population is only one-third the size of Rhode Island's.