INS Probes Its Role in Rampart Case
By: ANNE-MARIE O'CONNOR
The allegations, reported Thursday in The Times, also prompted Rep. Lucille
Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus, to call for an emergency meeting with INS Commissioner Doris Meissner
and Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric Holder.
"I am outraged that the LAPD's Rampart Division targeted Hispanics and used
INS agents to circumvent the law," Roybal-Allard said. "The ongoing
investigation of the LAPD and Rampart Division is revealing an intolerable
abuse of power. I intend to pursue an investigation into the actions of the
LAPD and other police departments and INS offices nationwide."
The allegations were made by INS agents who worked for the agency's
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force from June 1997 to October 1998,
when their unit was deployed to process the Latino detainees' cases.
The INS agents said they protested their involvement in the program to
their supervisors because the Los Angeles Police Department's arrests seemed
to circumvent a 21-year-old city policy that orders police officers not to
"initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of
a person."
The INS agents also said they did not believe that many of the detainees
were gang members, as the LAPD alleged.
Virginia Kice, the spokeswoman for the INS western region, said the
investigation will be overseen by the INS office of internal audit in
Washington and carried out by INS investigators from Washington and
California.
"These employees are suggesting that our cooperative efforts as part of
this gang enforcement initiative may have been inappropriate, so we are going
to investigate," Kice said.
INS agents said they processed the deportations of more than 160 Rampart
area Latino immigrants in 1997 and 1998 and referred about 40 more for
prosecution for illegal reentry to the United States, which is a felony.
In other cases, they said, incriminating allegations reported by Rampart
anti-gang officers were included in immigration files and influenced federal
authorities' decisions on whether to grant or deny some immigrants U.S.
citizenship.
In Washington, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno was asked why the Justice Department
and the FBI have been "so slow to get involved" in investigating the Rampart
police scandal.
"The local authorities were handling the case," Reno said. "We are going to
continue to review it from an independent point of view, try to provide
whatever assistance we can, and at the same time determine whether there is
any basis for a federal investigation."
Asked if she was confident that LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks is capable of
handling the crisis, Reno replied that "we want to try to give assistance,
while at the same time remaining independent."
"The ultimate goal here is to see that people who have done wrong are
brought to justice and that there is an appropriate response," Reno said.
Friday, February 25, 2000
Home Edition
Section: Metro
Page: B-1
Scandal: Investigation will focus on agents' statements that LAPD anti-gang
officers used them to get Latinos deported in violation of city policy.
TIMES STAFF WRITER
The Immigration and Naturalization Service is investigating allegations
that its agents helped anti-gang officers in the LAPD Rampart Division have
more than 160 Latino immigrants deported and 40 others prosecuted for illegal
reentry into the United States, an agency representative said Thursday.
