I like Sheriff Kiki Vigil's talk. I
wish he walked that talk.
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| US AG Jeff Sessions (l) and a proud DAC Sheriff Kiki Vigil (r) |
Well said. Consistent with what many
savvy law enforcement officials say: becoming a tool of Border Patrol
scares off crime victims from reporting rapes or other violent
crimes.
But not well done! Department records
indicate that during Vigil's time in office DASO has turned over to
the Feds, or otherwise helped the Feds incarcerate, perhaps a
thousand people who committed no state crime.
One DASO report lists 518 “CBP
referrals” during the October 2016 to September 2017 period.
“After Action Reports” from that period show that there were more
than 600 people whom DASO reported to Border Patrol, helped Border
Patrol apprehend, or otherwise assisted the Feds to arrest and
incarcerate. For the 600, reports mention no state crimes. I didn't
count the handful of others who were reportedly bringing in drugs or
smuggling undocumented humans. In the six months since, there were
another 195 “CBP referrals” – with only six arrests. The vast
majority were not carrying drugs for sale.
Border Patrol is doing its job.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with its job description.
Some would argue DASO should do that
job too. But Sheriff Vigil doesn't. He articulates why he shouldn't
enforce federal immigration laws – even while he apparently does
that repeatedly. Six hundred people last year – many in little
groups of two or three, crossing the border, without drugs or
firearms or any apparent intent to break New Mexico's laws.
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| Roberts and Vigil (Sun-News) |
Last September, to obtain county
commission approval of Stonegarden grants, Undersheriff Roberts and
another officer promised the county commission that those grants
would not require DASO to enforce immigration laws, but would be used
for drugs and gunrunning. When I called Commissioner Garrett, he
noted that Vigil's recent column tracked county policy. I asked
whether Stonegarden meant enforcing Federal law. Garrett said, “They
were not supposed to be using Stonegarden for enforcement of
immigration laws, and I've asked every time it came up.”
Video of that county commission
meeting seems to show Roberts flatly misleading the Commission to get
the grant approved. Commissioner John Vasquez asks what happens if a
deputy, who's working overtime on Stonegarden money and has intel
that someone is running drugs up in Hatch, stops the car and
determines there are no drugs but the driver is here illegally.
Roberts reassures him that if there were no state crimes, “We'd
have to go back to our policy, that we don't enforce the immigration
laws. . . They would be released.” How's that square with hunting
down hundreds of families without papers for Border Patrol?
I hope Sheriff Vigil answers to
someone about all this.
-30-
[The column above appeared this morning, Sunday, 29 April 2018, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website. A spoken version will air on KRWG and KTAL (101.5 FM) during the week.]
[Although I'd heard the facts discussed above, I was actually startled by the starkness of the contrast between what Mr. Vigil says and what DASO under his direction actually does. I kept looking for some mistake. And of course sought an explanation from the Department. None was forthcoming, although I asked by phone-messages and email. And knowledgeable sources confirmed, "Yeah, it's as self-contradictory as it looks." By the way, the language I quoted at the start of the column came from Kiki's recent op-ed in the Sun-News trying to explain away Jeff Sessions's visit.]
[My memories of the September 26 Commission meeting were dim, but watching the video (starting about three hours in, at about noon that day) substantiated that Undersheriff Roberts and Sgt. Ben Casillas had stated pretty strongly, several times, that if the Commission approved the Stonegarden grant, despite concerns voiced that under the current political administration the Border Patrol would push DASO to enforce immigration laws, DASO would stick to County policy.
Having just reviewed scores of "After Action Reports" and looked at the totals, with such extremely minimal reference in those reports to drugs, guns, or other crimes, it was really kind of sad to listen to DASO's reassurances to the County Commission. Commissioners expressed concern that the current political climate might lead Border Patrol to ask DASO to help enforce immigration laws, despite the county policy; DASO representatives repeatedly said not only that they'd not do that but that the Border Patrol wouldn't ask them to! Frankly, watching the video and reading the documents, one right after the other, was pretty appalling.
Stonegarden was No. 13 on the Agenda: "13. Accept and Approve Stonegarden 2016 Grant Award (EMW-2016-SS-00105) from the New Mexico Department on Homeland Security and Emergency Management Sub-Grant Agreement No. EMW-2016-SS-00105", and it's easy to watch the discussion. (To watch video of any County meeting, go to this spot on the county's website, then press the link for commission meetings, which will take you to a page where you need to press "View Meeting" for September 26, 2017. Then move to about 12 noon, about three hours into the meeting.]
[Thursday evening at a Union meeting Sheriff Vigil repeated that the only participation DASO has in Stonegarden is to stop drug traffickers and provide humanitarian aid to people stranded by coyotes!
That same evening I was reading the "After Action Reports," including one in which, during the annual Good Friday pilgrimage at Mount Cristo Rey, where there were about 3,000 pilgrims, "two individuals were seen entering the US and walking across the desert area. The two individuals walked straight up to the exact location where we were at. Seeing how they were extremely tired and had no water on them at all, the were provided with cold water. The individuals were escorted down to the base of the mountain and Border Patrol Agents took custody of them." Friday morning one of the men involved in all this confirmed that if deputies stop a car, and the people inside aren't violating law or dangerous, that's supposed to be the end of things, without any call to Border Patrol or holding the people until a Border Patrol agent can get there to take custody of them; but at DASO, the standard procedure is to call Border Patrol and turn the people over to Border Patrol. Ain't what Kiki said.]
[With a potentially controversial column like this, I feel uncomfortable not getting the subject to confirm or deny the facts, or offer some explanation. So my mind tries to work out ways I could be wrong here.
Q: Were all these "After Action Reports" really about hunting down people suspected of gun-running or drug-smuggling, even if there ultimately turned out to be no guns or drugs?
A: Highly unlikely. Since a few reports, which I didn't include in my count, mention such "intel" or mention confiscation of drugs, it seems unlikely the others would omit such information if it were there -- and, among many examples, a man and small child traveling alone (captured ) would seem unlikely to be running guns.
Q:Well, maybe they only meant to promise not to participate in massive raids in communities.
A: That's not what they said, and not what the County policy says. They told the County Commission, "We will not enforce immigration laws, and the Border Patrol won't ask us to violate county policy, although if there's a large group of people traveling together, some carrying a back-pack full of drugs, others who had no drugs and were only paperless might get swept up in that."
Q: Well, not all the Reports are specific concerning DASO's role in arresting people without papers, so maybe they could argue that they only pointed people out, or rounded them up without "arresting" them or asking their citizenship, and just turned them over to Border Patrol.
A: The flat promise, repeatedly, was not to enforce immigration laws against people who'd committed no state crimes but were here illegally. Whatever role DASO played in specific apprehensions -- and in at least some "we" [meaning DASO] took someone into custody -- it was deeply involved in helping to enforce immigration laws.]
[Also, as I mention in the column, people can and do take the position that DASO should enforce Federal Immigration laws. I disagree. Vigil himself articulates some of the reasons many good law-enforcement leaders in the Southwest feel local law-enforcement should generally stick to local laws. And that's obviously county policy here. I understand that terrorists or gun-runners could be out there (though a year's "After Action Reports" don't seem to feature them), and having DASO supplement Border Patrol might make sense, if DASO stuck to dealing with those problems and drug-trafficking. My particular concern is the vast gulf between what Mr. Vigil keeps saying and what his department does. That's not good with any public official.]
[I sought these records through the Inspection of Public Records Act process. Tthe system worked, and the documents, which were not subject to any IPRA exception, were produced -- with redaction of some information, such as precise locations patrolled. (There was another interesting document I haven't yet received, but will discuss with County Counsel next week.) Apologies to county staff who had to spend time on the redactions -- I know what a pain that can be -- and kudos to the county who followed the law, which public agencies do not always do.]
[6 May Note:
[I should also note: (a) the County Commission has scheduled discussion of a resolution to terminate the Stonegarden grant contract that facilitated that conduct, (b) also on the agenda shortly ahead of that discussion is a "Presentation" by Sheriff Vigil on the subject, and (c) Ben -- I mean, Sheriff Vigil has written a commentary ("arrest reports are misleading") on that column, which appears in the Sun-News today. Here's a link to the County Commission's agenda.
For various reasons, including redactions, those "After Action Reports" aren't thoroughly clear. I'll agree with Sheriff Vigil on that -- and it's why I repeatedly urged him to talk with me on the subject. But a couple of things are clear: that DASO had involvement, as I said, in a lot of enforcement of federal immigration laws; that in most of those reports it isn't perfectly clear what DASO's exact role was; that in a few, drugs are mentioned, but that there's no mention of drugs or reasonable suspicion of drugs (or guns) in the vast majority; and that in a few, where the accounts are more detailed, it's clear that DASO did turn people over to the feds merely for being here, with no indication drugs were found or suspected. Further, others sources within DASO say that DASO does turn people over to the feds.
So, Tuesday morning's County Commission meeting should be interesting.]
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