A Chinese Menu

Doug sent this e-mail to the mayor and city council...
We’ve seen articles in the Courier News, Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune recently about ICE ACCESS. We are pleased to hear Elgin elected officials willing to do something, ANYTHING, about criminal illegal aliens in town.

But ICE ACESS is getting way more credit than it deserves. It is essentially a Chinese Menu of all the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) services local agencies might want to use. Nothing more. It is not a program at all; It is a list of the programs ICE has to offer.

Well, maybe it isn’t a menu really. With a menu, you get to order what you want. In contrast, with ICE ACCESS they tell you what you can have. “No soup for you!”

Try it yourself. When you sit down with them to discuss ICE ACCESS, point to the CAP officer option and tell them you want one of those. They will say, “That program is for state prisons and county jails. You can’t have a CAP.”

Here’s Elgin’s answer to that. Ask them, “What does Angel Garcia do at ICE?” They probably won’t know the answer. You can tell them, “Angel Garcia, a federal immigration enforcement officer, works full-time at the Costa Mesa city jail, checking the immigration status of each arrestee.” (from Orange County Register 12/17/07) Be sure to emphasize the word “CITY” so they understand you.

Maybe they’ll offer you support with your customs problem, or your border control, or maybe even intellectual property rights. Those would be useful here. NOT!

You could use some help training officers in spotting bogus documents.

As for two rather useful menu items, the Law Enforcement Support Center and Operation Community Shield, there is nothing new about them. Elgin is very familiar with them. We already know about them and are using them.

I guess the main question Marty Price can answer for you is, “So what is new about ICE ACCESS?”

And the real question ought to be, “Do you have 287g forms with you?”