The Lines Between Us: Police Protections and the Immigrant Community

Are our local police departments willing to protect us regardless of our immigration status?  In a web series like the Lines Between Us, produced by LMC Media in partnership with the  Coalition for Understanding Racism through Education (CURE) and Community Resource  Center (CRC), the series takes a deeper look at race and immigration status as lines that  divide or connect us hoping that with greater understanding and information, those lines  blur. The videos are short stories told by an individual willing to speak on topics that have  affected their lives. One of the stories is about a DACAmented young man racially profiled by a New York City Police Officer at an urban train station. 

In 2012, the Department of Homeland Security issued Deferred action for Childhood Arrivals  (DACA), a policy to allow young, authorized immigrants who are low enforcement priorities  to remain in the country with temporary lawful status. A person who receives deferred  action is lawfully present and may apply for work authorization. Subsequently, this young  man’s story was discussed on a panel with a local police chief, a councilman, and a  community-based organization’s staff attorney.  

In his story, the young man shared that one day, he and a white woman were crossing in  between cars at the subway train station. A police officer spotted them and flashed his  police batch at them asking them both to follow him to the benches outside the train. After  the officer chatted with the white woman first, he let her go without trouble. However, the  young man didn’t have the same luck as the officer interrogated him with an intimidating  tone and proceeded to ask questions that seemed irrelevant to the case such as: “have you  ever been arrested before? And do you have a social security number? The officer got  annoyed at the young man at some point and threatened him with “you know that we can  arrest you right now”. The incident didn’t escalate but the young man was issued a  summons. 

For advocates, stories like the one from this young man are not uncommon. Unfortunately,  there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the US who experience uncomfortable  interactions with the police. In some jurisdictions, those interactions result in summons or  warnings. In others, those interactions end up in arrests inevitably sent to Immigration and  Customs Enforcement (ICE) if the person doesn’t have status.  

In the panel discussion, the police chief provides her insight as to why the young man was  interrogated as he described, explaining that perhaps he fit the description of another  person who was being investigated. She never questioned why the white woman got a  different treatment. The councilman discussed people of color living in predominantly white  communities and the implications of that. The attorney explained how the ramifications  of interactions with law enforcement like the one described could impact immigrant  community members. She highlighted the importance of Know Your Rights (KYR) training  and carrying identification. However, KYRs training doesn’t address the fear that the  immigrant community has about the police. The fear of deportation is prevalent in  immigrant communities. 

The active community-based organization with a trajectory of over two decades,  regrettably, can site a history of police harassment with the local day laborer community, one that directly prevented workers from seeking employment in a public area. Now, after  two decades later and several leadership changes, the police department now works in  partnership with the community organizations to implement internal policies such ABLE, de-escalation, training, etc. aiming to create a culture of trust with the police department. But  in a public panel discussion when the head of the police department uses a man’s physical  description as an excuse to a made-up open investigation to answer why the immigrant  male may have been questioned, is there really a culture of trust? Is the police force still  racially profiling? And isn’t our local police force still defending this? 

Here is what we know is a result of that lack of trust: less crime reporting, residents feeling  less safe, an increase in domestic violence, and a lack of community-building, not to  mention less police accountability. It is in the best interest of the entire community for  immigrant communities to feel they too are protected by their local law enforcement  regardless of their status. If we are ever going to get there, profiling needs to stop but more  importantly, the excuse for profiling and overall mindset needs to change.  

This is one perspective; we invite you to watch the series and share your thoughts on this blog.