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WORCESTER, Massachusetts -- Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said last night that city police officers should not enforce immigration laws because doing so would threaten a basic civil right to privacy and wreck community policing.
“This is not a country where we ask to see papers,” Chief Gemme said in an interview after his appearance before the city’s Human Rights Commission on the department’s anti-gun violence efforts.
He was asked to comment on Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes’ remarks earlier this week that she could not get information about the number of illegal immigrants in the city from either the school or police departments.
“I don’t want the Police Department trying to establish who’s here legally or illegally,” Chief Gemme said. “We’re trying to build trust with the community. We’re not going to do that if we’re asking people who’s here illegally.”