Manassas council OKs federal immigration enforcement for police

The Manassas City Council unanimously authorized its police department to begin enforcing federal immigration laws.

The Council’s vote on Monday night authorizes police chief John J. Skinner to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security that will give city police a broad-ranging tool to fight illegal alien criminal activity in the city.

According to the city’s draft memorandum, all illegal immigrants convicted of state or federal felony crimes against persons, property and society could be subject to deportation. People who commit more minor offenses including trespassing and disorderly conduct could be subject to deportation as well.

This list of offenses also match those in the separate agreements that Prince William County, Manassas Park and the Prince William Sheriff’s Office are negotiating with Homeland Security and are identical to the one the town of Herndon has submitted, said Skinner.

Under the agreement, the officers trained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would “have the power and the authority to interrogate any person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or remain in the United States and to process for immigration violations... .”

Illegal immigrants convicted of crimes must complete their sentence s before they are turned over to for deportation.

The agreement calls for a maximum of seven police officers from Manassas to be trained . Those officers will eventually focus on criminal gang participation, career criminals, illegal document offenders, drug enforcement, human smuggling and other serious criminal activities.

These crimes will be handled by a new unit called the Special Problems/Criminal Alien Unit.

Four of those officers are currently employed by the police department, including one who is scheduled to graduate from a four-week training session in Frederick, Md. on Friday.

Major Donald McKinnon Jr. said the department plans on submitting a supplemental request for the three additional officers in the 2009 fiscal budget process.

Expenses related to the program were not included in city manager Lawrence Hughes’ budget which was presented to the council on Monday.

Except for what appeared to be a few typos in the agreement, which McKinnon said will be addressed in the coming weeks, the council was openly complimentary to the police department and its work on the new program.

However, Hughes warned the council that the time and money needed for this program in the future will likely increase based on what has happened at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center.

Hughes said the jail staff trained to handle immigration issues will likely need to be doubled in the future to keep up with the workload and that this scenario could also happen to the Manassas police department.

The department has also expressed some fears that by taking on federal responsibilities, it will lose the help of the local immigration officers currently assigned to the Northern Virginia Gang Taskforce.

“If we throw the obligation of performing work that the ICE agent is working onto them, we will have a net loss [in coverage],” McKinnon said.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.