butterbean
Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2269
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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject: Officers Now Must Ask Proof of Citizenship |
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A change earlier this month in the Houston Police Department's policy requiring officers to ask anyone arrested for a misdemeanor whether they are a U.S. citizen has Houston immigrants on edge as they seek to understand what the change means for them.
"The climate today is one of terror in the community. You can feel the tension," said Teodoro Aguiluz, executive director of CRECEN, or Central American Resource Center, which hosted a forum Sunday to clarify the policy changes and give an update on pending comprehensive immigration reform. More than 200 members of Houston's Latino immigrant community attended.
"The change that our department has done is not a new law and not a new ordinance. It's just a change in the normal procedure," Houston Police Department spokesman Gabriel Ortiz told the group, which met at Social Club Amazonia. "None of our officers are going to detain someone because they believe that person is here illegally. If you are ever in that situation report it, because the police are not supposed to do that."
continued:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4279581.html |
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