Mayoral candidates spar over Keller's plan to alert public to ICE actions

A social media statement posted by Mayor Tim Keller announcing his intention to keep the public better informed about federal immigration enforcement actions prompted an angry reaction Monday from his mayoral opponent, who called the practice “dangerous.”

Keller announced Friday that the public can call the Albuquerque Police Department “to verify if federal immigration agents are operating in our city.”

APD followed up the announcement by issuing a statement saying the federal officials have agreed to share more information with police about immigration operations in the city.

Darren White, who opposes Keller in the Nov. 4 mayoral contest, responded by asking U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison to investigate whether the city’s initiative violates federal law.

Disclosing information about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations could endanger federal agents and the public, White contends.

“I’m very concerned about the police department establishing some type of a tip line for people to call to verify whether (ICE) is working in certain neighborhoods,” White said Monday in a phone interview.

“You are providing information about legitimate law enforcement operations,” he said. “That could be dangerous.”

White, a former secretary of the state Department of Public Safety and Bernalillo County sheriff, was responding to a message posted Friday on Keller’s Facebook page saying that the public now can call APD to learn about federal immigration raids in the city.

Keller’s statement said that APD is taking steps “to bring more clarity around immigration enforcement. That’s why we’ve created a new way to verify if federal immigration agents are operating in our city,” the post said. “You can now call APD.”

APD issued a statement Monday clarifying that the public can call 242-COPS — APD’s non-emergency number — to inquire about “a specific presence in the city and whether that is an ICE operation.”

“Our dispatchers can call ICE and verify whether that is the case, and the dispatcher can relay that verification to the caller,” APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in the statement. “We will not know or pass along any operational details to members of the public.”

The process is similar to that used in SWAT activations in the city, Gallegos said.

“Darren White should be asked to be specific about why he thinks an open line of communication would endanger law enforcement and the public,” the statement said. “As it stands, it sounds like he is promoting secrecy and keeping the public in the dark about what’s happening in their own community.”

APD Chief Harold Medina said in a statement issued Friday that he has communicated with Homeland Security Investigations, which oversees ICE, about public concerns.

“While APD does not enforce federal immigration laws, Chief Medina emphasized to federal law enforcement leaders that there must be more transparency around their operations in Albuquerque,” the statement said. “As a result, federal officials have agreed to share information with APD when people have questions about operations.”

Medina also said that federal agents must wear markings identifying themselves as law enforcement officials.

“APD is not in the business of immigration enforcement,” Chief Medina said in the statement. “At the same time, I want to keep lines of communication open to avoid misunderstandings. We want the community to be safe and trust that we are looking out for them.”

In a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, White said that the city’s action “creates a dangerous situation” for federal officials and the public.

“It risks compromising sensitive operations, places federal personnel in imminent danger, and could even endanger the public,” White wrote. “Moreover, this policy may have the unintended effect of aiding illegal immigrants, involved in criminal activity, who are actively attempting to evade lawful apprehension.”

White also called on Albuquerque officials to reestablish access for federal officials at the city’s Prisoner Transport Center at Fourth and Roma NW to check on the immigration status of people arrested by APD.

“We just let (federal officials) set up a laptop and they could check people who were coming in,” White said of the former practice, which ended sometime after Keller was elected mayor. “Some of these people are being charged with very serious felony crimes, violent crimes. It makes no sense to me that we wouldn’t want ICE to apprehend them and have them deported once they serve their sentence.”

APD officials responded Monday that ICE officials rarely used their access to the Prisoner Transport Center when it was available to them.

“Medina said he recalls that ICE had a desk in the (Prisoner Transport Center) several years ago under a different administration, but rarely staffed it,” Gallegos said in the statement. “ICE currently does not have access to the Prisoner Transport Center, where we are focused on arresting and booking people who break local and state criminal laws.”