Associated Press
NEW YORK — Red tape at the Immigration and Naturalization Service is preventing police from reporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes, a New York City official said Thursday.
The result has been that criminals who could be deported have been allowed to remain in the country, and in some cases, go on to commit violent crimes.
New York City's Criminal Justice Coordinator John Feinblatt testified Thursday before a House subcommittee on immigration to answer questions surrounding the rape of a woman in a Queens park last December.
Four of the five men charged in the case were found to be illegal immigrants, and three of those had been previously arrested.
Feinblatt said the INS is hard to reach whenever a New York police officer tries to refer a suspected illegal immigrant to them. If the officer persists, Feinblatt said, INS then ties the issue in unnecessary regulations and red tape.
Posted by Suzanne at February 28, 2003