POSTED: Saturday, June 12, 2010 - 5:32pm
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 12:36am
EL PASO, TX - The Arizona law is once again taking center stage in the Borderland. Today law enforcement leaders participated in a town hall meeting with people from the area, some of whom say they have already seen police trying to enforce immigration.
The Plaza Theatre in downtown El Paso was packed with people who wanted to hear from law enforcement leaders on immigration, but at the same time it was a chance for everyday people to voice their concerns to police chiefs and sheriffs from the Borderland.
One speaker at the meeting said he was pulled over, and had his immigration status questioned by a police officer...
"He said if I see this truck again I'm going to pull you guys over just to see if you have those papers, those immigration papers."
Overall the main concern people seemed to have was police overstepping their boundaries on the issue of immigration. It's a concern that each department head addressed at the meeting.
"We do not stop people to determine their immigration status in this country, and I think that's important because that gets into areas of racial profiling, and it's against state law," El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles said.
"Our job is not to sit there and try to determine the immigration status of a person, however I will say this our job also includes checking for warrants and things like that," Dona Ana County, New Mexico Sheriff Todd Garrison said.
Applause rang out for several answers from the law enforcement panel, but police and sheriff's leaders made it clear that at times immigration may come into play.
"For the most part I do not agree with local Law Enforcement being in immigration," Anthony, Texas Police Chief Ed Miranda said.
The meeting was put on by the Border Network for Human Rights.
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