PD Editorial: Immigration with an eye on public safety

Stanford University researchers say a California law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses immediately reduced the number of hit-and-run collisions.

The law, passed in 2014 over loud objections from anti-immigration activists, is doing exactly what its sponsors promised: enhancing public safety for everyone.

Hit-and-run accidents declined by at least 7 percent statewide the first year the law was in effect, according to the Stanford researchers, saving drivers who weren’t at fault an estimated?$3.5 million in repair costs.

Why? Licensed drivers are more likely to be properly trained, and they have less reason to leave the scene of a crash.

On top of any savings on car repairs, that means that victims needing immediate medical attention are less likely to be left alone.

The same rationale - public safety - informs the long-standing refusal of many local law enforcement agencies to take a lead role in enforcing federal immigration laws.

As Santa Rosa police Chief Hank Schreeder and others have explained, discouraging people from reporting crimes or cooperating with investigators out of fear that they, or someone close to them, may be deported makes it harder for cops to do their jobs. It also can make immigrants easier prey for criminals, creating still more problems for local police.

Additional considerations come into play once someone is arrested and booked into jail.

Immigration authorities shouldn’t have unchecked access to inmates and jail records. Fishing expeditions can undermine efforts to build trust between law enforcement agencies and immigrant communities.

But convicted felons, especially those who return to the United States after being deported, forfeit any special protection. They’ve already shown themselves to be a threat to the community, and they shouldn’t be shielded from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

They wouldn’t be under Senate Bill 54, legislation intended to restrict California’s participation in the Trump administration’s aggressive and antagonistic approach to immigration enforcement. SB 54 cleared the state Senate this past week after being amended to ensure that undocumented immigrants convicted of serious and violent felonies are turned over to federal authorities for deportation after completing their sentences.

In his first report, Sonoma County law enforcement auditor Jerry Threet proposed several immigration-related policy changes for the local jail, including restricting access to inmates’ confidential files and notifying ICE of an impending release only if an inmate has been convicted of a serious or violent felony within the past 10 years.

Sheriff Steve Freitas should give serious consideration to Threet’s recommendations and respond to them publicly. We’re not persuaded that convicted felons deserve extra consideration, but it won’t promote cooperation with law enforcement if people with clean records end up being deported after they are acquitted or released without being charged with a crime.

Crossing the border without permission and overstaying a visa are civil violations, and it would be neither practical nor politically feasible to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented residents in the United States. FBI agents don’t enforce local traffic laws, and local authorities should limit their enforcement of federal immigration laws to those instances where public safety is at stake.