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Rule on illegals
hit
By LESLIE CASIMIR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, June 4th, 2003
A new order from Mayor Bloomberg lifting a longtime ban on city employees
reporting illegal immigrants was blasted by City Council members and
critics yesterday.
Bloomberg's executive
order, issued Friday, does away with a 1980 mandate imposed by then-Mayor
Ed Koch that prohibited city workers from reporting an immigrant's status -
except in cases when the immigrant has committed a crime.
Anthony Miranda, who
heads the National Latino Officers Association, said at a press conference
outside City Hall that the order could stop illegal immigrants from
reporting crimes.
"Now you can be a
victim of a robbery or a rape and get asked if you are legal or not,"
said Miranda, who retired from the NYPD last year.
But Bloomberg said the
order was necessary to get the city into compliance with a 1999 federal
court decision that the longtime rule against reporting illegals was
unconstitutional.
Though nearly four
years have passed since the court ruling, recent pressure from Washington
forced officials to clarify the city's position on illegal-immigrant
reporting, sources said. Much of the pressure centered on a Queens gang
rape case involving several illegal Mexican immigrants who had criminal
records but were not reported to the feds by police.
Cops, who had been allowed
only to inquire about the status of suspects, are not limited in reporting
illegal immigrants under the new order.
But Bloomberg's order
discourages city workers from asking about a person's status unless it is
"relevant to the provision of city services" or "such
officer or employee is required by law to inquire about such person's
immigration status."
The order "finds
the right balance between encouraging immigrants to seek vital city
services while preventing city agencies and police from becoming an arm of
the INS, which will never happen under my administration," Bloomberg
said in a written statement, referring to the renamed federal Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services.
But City Councilman
Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens), an ex-cop, said the order will discourage
illegal immigrants from seeking services at hospitals or enrolling their
children in public schools.
"We believe this
is a threat to public safety in our city," Monserrate said.
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