8:55am UPDATE: Morning talk-show host Bob Clark on 770 KKOB Radio plans to continue his discussion of the new Albuquerque Police Department policy regarding illegal immigrants in the 9 o'clock hour and will have APD Chief Ray Schultz on the air to further clarify the policy on his Thursday morning show.

Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said in a Tuesday news conference that police are not to ask about a person's immigration status and will not enforce federal immigration laws.

But that doesn't mean police can't arrest an illegal immigrant or inquire about a person's immigration status in a criminal investigation, according to this morning's Albuquerque Journal .

"Any officer investigating criminal activity is allowed to inquire about immigration status and take any action necessary," said Schultz, who said there is a lot of confusion about APD policy regarding illegal immigrants.

Schultz said false information is circulating that criminals will not be asked their immigration status, the Journal reported.

"On the other hand, we want the immigrant community to know that should they be a victim or witness to a crime, their immigration status will not be held against them," Schultz said Tuesday. "We want their cooperation so we can hold all criminals accountable."

10:10am 8/14/07 -- APD No Longer Reporting Illegal Immigrants: Police chief, activists to announce new procedures at morning news conference.

Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz will hold a news conference just a few minutes from now with members of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos to explain new police procedures regarding illegal immigrants.

According to a report on KOB-TV, Albuquerque Police Department officers who find illegal immigrants will no longer contact federal immigration agents or the Border Patrol.

And KRQE News 13 says that under the new policy, effective as of Aug. 6, police will be prohibiting from even asking about the immigration status of people they arrest.

"Officers shall not inquire about or seek proof of a person's immigration status ... officers shall not call federal immigration officers to the scene ... of an investigation except in the case of suspected human trafficking," the policy states in part, according to KRQE. 

Six years ago the Albuquerque City Council passed a resolution saying no city resources would be used to go after illegal immigrants, but APD was sued two years ago by three students at Del Norte High School who were detained by an officer for being illegal immigrants, KOB-TV reported.

Immigration advocate Rachel LaZar, who helped write the new policy, told KRQE that implementing it will help prevent racial profiling and will reduce the fear illegal immigrants living and working here have that police will arrest them if they report a crime.

"If you're a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, if you're a witness to a crime, you should come forward to police and report that without being concerned that it will lead to your deportation," LaZar told Eyewitness News 4.

But Ira Mehlman,  a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told KOB-TV the policy was wrong-headed and ignores the safety and liberty of the people of Albuquerque.

"When one of the people that the Albuquerque police turns a blind eye to goes out and kills somebody, somebody has to be held accountable," Mehlman told KOB-TV.

According to News 13, some APD officers are angry and frustrated that the policy is allowing known criminals to stay on the streets and continue to commit crime when federal authorities don't know an illegal immigrant is in custody, then posts bond and gets out of jail.

And immigration officials tell KRQE they will continue to investigate these cases, but the new APD policy will make things tougher.

"Serve as our eyes and ears if you will," Immigration and Customs spokeswoman Leticia Zamaripps told News 13. "The local authorities are the ones patrolling the streets, the ones who are out there more than likely coming in contact with a lot of these criminal aliens."

Meanwhile, the question of whether local police should contact federal authorities when they arrest someone of uncertain immigration status is being hotly debated in the wake of the recent arrest of Jose Carranza, an illegal immigrant from Peru, who is a suspect in the killings of three young college students in Newark last week.

Carranza was free on bond facing assault and child-rape charges, and proponents of stronger immigration enforcement are pushing for stronger contact between local authorities and immigration agents, according to a story in New Jersey's The Record.

Advocates for immigrants argue, however, that the recent killings in Newark were not "an immigration issue" and expressed concern that all illegal immigrants would be stigmatized as potential killers, The Record reported. 

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