House Bill could help identify illegal immigrants
News-Democrat & Leader of Logan County

By Pam Cassady-Staff Reporter pamcndl@bellsouth.net

Feb 9, 2008


Last year, District Judge Sue Carol Browning brought light to the problem of
dealing with illegal aliens in the court system when she was suspended for
two weeks for denying bail to 17 defendants in Todd County.

Browning said she jailed the defendants because she had little information
about their residency status or criminal history and had seen the defendants
repeatedly in court. She said some gave false names when they were arrested.


The problem, Browning said, is that when immigrants are brought in with no
identification, there is no way of knowing whether this is their first
offense or whether they are repeat offenders. A bill that is currently in a
Kentucky House Judiciary Committee might help deal with that problem.

House Bill 304 would give local jails direct access to a national database
that identifies anyone in the U.S. with a criminal record. Sponsored by Rep.
Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, the bill would give booking officers direct
access to National Crime Information Center (NCIC) data that could help
identify illegal immigrants entering jails without a valid Social Security
number or reported place of birth who have allegedly committed a crime
elsewhere.

"It sounds like it would certainly be helpful in identifying and keeping a
record of illegal immigrants," Browning said of the bill.

Bill Jenkins, jailer at the Logan County Detention Center, agreed.

"That would help all the jails a lot," Jenkins said. Currently, they don't
have access to past records. He pointed out that it would help not only with
illegal immigrants but all offenders.

"It would enhance our safety," he added.

Browning gained much attention for the August 2006 incident in which she
jailed 17 Hispanic immigrants, holding them without bond pending an
investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
Logan/Todd County Circuit Judge Tyler Gill later ruled that Browning went
against the law by jailing them without bail and without informing them of
their right to counsel. The 17 were released and Browning was later
suspended for two weeks because of the incident.

The situation brought attention to the problem of how to deal with illegal
immigrants who are arrested. Browning said that if they have no
identification and give a false name, they are treated as if a crime is a
first offense even if they have actually committed crimes many times. This
is not fair, she said.

"I just want people to be treated consistently," Browning said. When it
comes to making decisions as a judge, some of those decisions are based on
what is known about a person's background. If someone with a Social Security
number and a record comes into the court and they have committed crimes
before, that makes a huge impact in the way they are treated.

Not knowing the background of a defendant was a major concern for Browning
and other judges. Browning said she could not be responsible for releasing
someone who would later go out and commit a major crime.

If illegal immigrants were fingerprinted whenever they are booked and jails
had access to those records, that would be a big help.

Although Browning said she still feels like her hands are tied when it comes
to dealing with illegal immigrants in court, she has seen some improvements
in the last year. She and the jail are working to cooperate with Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in all matters and she has noticed she is not
seeing quite so many illegal immigrants in her court.

Jenkins said that they do fingerprint all who come into the jail and they
have some ways of keeping records. Jenkins said that when they finish with a
defendant locally, ICE will send them to a federal prison if they are
illegal and will begin the process of deportation.

Having access to the NCIC, as proposed in the bill, would help the situation
even more, Jenkins said.

Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson told the House Judiciary
Committee that this bill could really help in identifying illegal immigrants
who have no identification.

"When these people enter the detention center, before they get out I hope to
know what their immigration status is... not based on their name, but based
on their fingerprints," Larson said. "That's the key."

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