My son. If only you had informed yourself on this issue. This man had had 2 DUIs before. Obviously he was known to police and they knew he was an illegal alien. Under U.S. law he should have been deported and yet he was allowed to remain in this country.
Fox 43 TV - Loved ones remember teens killed in crash
Hatuey........."My son. If only you had informed yourself on this issue. ".........
What a pompous and as much arrogant as uninformed you are. Why don't you read and get informed for a change "My son". You sound just just like your master O'reilly, a bully who thinks he knows everything about anything. Hey I hope you went to mass today to wash your sins........................."My son"
A Message from Chief Jacocks Regarding the Recent Drunk Driving Related Fatalities Involving an Undocumented Alien
First, I want to extend my personal sympathy to the Tranchant and Kunhardt families for the devastating tragedy that has and will continue to affect them. They remain in our thoughts and prayers.
I find it ironic that, had the intoxicated driver been born and raised in Virginia Beach, little notice would have been given to this senseless tragedy by either the media or the community at large.
We average approximately 9 alcohol related fatalities in the City each year, and the national death toll from drinking and driving in 2005 was 16,885.
The General Assembly has provided us with some of the toughest drunk/impaired driving laws and sanctions in the country, and the Virginia Beach Police Department has a long and impressive history of aggressively enforcing those laws that has earned us national and state recognition.
Unfortunately, few in the community other than the friends and families of victims of alcohol related crashes give this problem more than a passing thought.
I recognize that there is widespread frustration regarding a lack of adequate controls on immigration, and that emotions run high when two valuable members of a community have their lives senselessly and needlessly cut short.
Unfortunately, most who have been outspoken about this most recent, and all too common, tragedy have lost perspective and focus on what the teaching point actually is.
Tessa Tranchant and Alison Kunhardt were taken from their families and friends because the other driver was driving after consuming alcohol, not because he is illegally in the country.
It is important to recognize that the Code of Virginia, under Section 19.2-81.6, only gives local and state police the authority to charge someone as an illegal alien after they have been:
Previously convicted of a felony and
Previously deported or left the United States after such conviction and
Have reentered the United States and
Have been arrested again.
Even under those circumstances, we're only authorized to hold them for 72 hours.
I'm sure you are aware of the divergent opinions regarding local law enforcement's involvement, or lack thereof, in enforcing Federal immigration laws. Too many are trying to make Federal immigration issues a local police problem.
Following is an excerpt from our Department’s policy regarding the enforcement of Immigration laws:
Policy
The enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws is primarily the responsibility of the federal government. Accordingly, the Virginia Beach Police Department shall not undertake immigration-related investigations and shall not routinely inquire into the immigration status of persons encountered during police operations.
This prohibition does not preclude the Department from cooperating with federal immigration officials when requested, or from notifying those officials in serious situations where a potential threat to the public is perceived.
Inquiries into Immigration Status
A person’s right to file a police report, participate in police-community activities, or otherwise benefit from police services is not contingent upon citizenship or immigration status. Consequently, officers shall not question any person about his or her citizenship or immigration status or inform federal immigration authorities of the whereabouts or behavior of any immigrant or foreign visitor, unless that person:
1. Is arrested for any felony
2. Has been convicted of any felony, regardless of whether that felony involved violence
3. Is arrested for a terrorism-related offense, or is otherwise reasonably suspected of involvement in terrorism and/or subversive activities
4. Is arrested for any offense involving the entry or fraudulent assimilation of undocumented foreigners into the country, or is reasonably suspected of participating in an organized venture to bring or fraudulently assimilate undocumented foreigners into the country
5. Is reasonably suspected of participating in criminal street gang activity
Officers shall not request passports, visas, “green cards,” or travel documents in lieu of, or in addition to, driver’s licenses and similar standard forms of identification. Such documents shall only be requested
when standard forms of identification are unavailable, or when the officer is proceeding under the conditions described above.
This stance was crafted internally by the Police Department in July of 2004 and the formal policy was adopted by our Command Staff in September of 2005. Neither the Mayor nor anyone else on City Council had any input into this policy. The bottom line is, that as Chief of Police, it is my policy. It is also similar to polices of many other major city police departments.
The nearly universal opinion of the chiefs I've spoken to about this is consistent with mine, and that is that not only do we not have the capacity to do the Federal government's work in the area of immigration, we have no business doing so. This position is based upon several things, including 1) immigration violations are civil rather than criminal violations; 2) Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is both understaffed and under-funded, and typically does not respond to calls from local police who have undocumented aliens in custody unless the charges are major felonies or otherwise high profile. In fact, ICE has told us there is nothing they can do unless the individual is arrested for a felony. In the case of Mr. Ramos, we did notify ICE and they have issued a detainer for him; 3) there are a reported 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. and another estimated 800,000 entering the country annually. As long as the nation's borders continue to be unsecured, the number of individuals illegally entering the country will exceed any number that ICE may be able to deport; 4) none of us want to be in a position where our officers, who are already over worked and stretched thin, are asking individuals whom they encounter on traffic stops or for minor law violations for their "papers" because the individual has an accent or a so called "non-American" sounding name; 5) the well accepted fact that undocumented aliens often come from countries where law enforcement authorities are abusive and corrupt, and as a result many of those individuals have a fear of, and no confidence in, the police. We know that undocumented aliens are often targeted by criminals, because they know such victims are less likely to report the crime to the. My position is that when someone is the victim of a crime, it makes no difference where they are from or how they got here.
With the national, violent, crime rate climbing, our recruiting goals unfulfilled, our retention problems diminishing but not eliminated, and our authorized staffing less than what I believe it should be for a city with our population and dynamics, we are not in a position to devote police resources towards what is undeniably a Federal issue that no Congress or President in recent memory has identified as a matter deserving of the funds or manpower to adequately address.
We have gone to significant lengths with outreach to the Hispanic community in order to build trust and encourage them to report crimes if they are victimized. We have assured them that our officers will not inquire as to their immigration status unless they are suspected of being involved in one of the 5 activities enumerated above. This approach is not unique to Virginia Beach, but rather it is the norm among major cities I am familiar with.
I truly hope that those of you who take the time to read this have a clearer understanding of how multi-faceted this problem is. Lastly, for those of you who have decided to question whether or not our city is safe, suffice it to say that, according to the latest document released by the FBI – Crimes in the U.S. 2005 - Virginia Beach ranks number one as the “safest” city its size for cities with a population of 235,000 to 900,000. I attribute this to our active partnerships with the community and the efforts of the dedicated men and women of this department who strive daily to ensure that Virginia Beach remains a safe place for our citizens and visitors.
Contact Information:
Chief of Police
2509 Princess Anne Rd.
Municipal Center, Bldg. 11
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
Direct: (757) 385-4141
