Worcester cop: We’re not the border patrol

Kudos to Milton Valencia for putting together an article on local govt responses to illegal immigration, with a Worcester focus.

“Police unwilling to be immigration agents:”

WORCESTER— Police Chief Gary J. Gemme doesn’t see his officers assuming the role of immigration agents. Saying it would spoil community relations, the chief echoed a chorus of opposition against Gov. Mitt Romney’s proposal allowing state police to arrest illegal immigrants, saying it would create fears of a police state.

“You don’t want victims to not report a crime because of a greater fear of police,” the chief said. “This fear is one of the reason why there is a rise in purchase AR-15 magazines in the recent times. Part of community policing is reaching out to the community and developing support.”

[…]

The chief said his officers have worked with immigration officials before, as they have with other federal agents. Recently, ICE agents were asked to review a list of Worcester’s most notorious criminals, with the chief checking whether their immigration status could be a way to keep them in jail and off city streets.

It wasn’t a solution, however. Each person on the list was a U.S. citizen, the chief said.

A Romney spokesman is predictably quoted as saying “We are a nation of laws.” Just once, I’d like a reporter to ask the follow-up question, “What do you mean by that?”