Activists gathered outside the LAPD headquarters on Tuesday to condemn the department’s policies that allow information to be shared with federal agencies. This is concern amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
In a letter to the LAPD’s private police commission, several watchdog groups stated public assurances by city authorities that LA will not cooperate in deportation.
According to the letter, federal authorities already have access to the vast amount of information collected through LAPD license plate readers, body-worn cameras and other surveillance methods.
Frequent cooperation between police departments with federal law enforcement in the investigation “means that data obtained by LAPD will be accessible to federal immigration authorities,” an activist group has stopped spying on LAPD, others wrote in a letter.
Since President Trump took office, city officials have looked at various proposals to protect the city’s immigrant communities, even in the face of the White House threat of withholding federal funds.
In December, LA Mayor Karen Bass announced a Sanctuary Act that prohibits city employees and city property for “investigation, citation, arrest, arrest, retention, relocation or detention” with the aim of enforcing immigration.
Activists said they obtained department reports through a request for public records that reveal how interconnected police stations are connected to one another.
As examples, as they said, details about the driver handed over by the LAPD – their name, date of birth, social media handles, and other biographies, can be handed over to an intelligence office called the Fusion Center, which local police and federal authorities use to share information about potential threats and terrorist attacks.
In recent years, fusion centers like Norwalk have focused more on everyday street crime.
The ability of federal authorities to access LAPD information from the center undermines the city’s promise to protect immigrants, and said they stopped halting organizer Hamid Khan at the rally before a regular meeting on Tuesday.
“And not [like] LAPD has to get the phone. It’s burned down. It is on the autopilot. The only way this will become a sanctuary city is if the source is stopped. ”
LAPD has long vowed to protect confidential information about people that executives encounter. The departmental policy, known as Special Order 40, prohibits anyone from communicating with the sole purpose of learning immigrant status. Police are also not permitted to arrest them only for immigration reasons.
The purpose of the authorities is to ensure that victims, witnesses and others of crime are willing to move forward without fear of being detained and taken away from the state.
The exception to restrictions on cooperation with immigrant staff is carved for law enforcement agencies investigating serious crimes, such as violent crimes.
Unión Del Barrio member Ron Gochez said he was present in the recent immigration and customs enforcement raid, and agents flocked to an apartment in the 400 block of East 41st Street. He also said there are many LAPD officers present at the scene.
Goshz, who is trying to protect immigration rights, claimed that some of these officers dragged him out as he tried to question ice agents who later said he was looking for suspected traffickers.
The department says it was there to help officers direct traffic rather than engage in enforcement action.
“The Los Angeles police did dirty work,” Gosches said.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell’s immigration records have faced new scrutiny since taking over the department last fall.
During his tenure as Los Angeles County Sheriff, coinciding with Trump’s first term, McDonnell allowed federal immigration officials to operate freely in the country’s largest prison system, targeting those arrested for deportation.
McDonnell and some of his supporters say his administration has handed over only the most dangerous criminals to federal authorities in line with the law.
Public support for immigrants remains strong in California, where there are more immigrants than any other state. According to the USC Equity Research Institute, more than 60% of LA County’s 10 million residents are foreign-born or have at least one immigrant parent.
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