Dean Johnson Comments on Immigration and Local Police for KQED
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for KQED public radio on policies that coordinate cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities.
Such policies have become the focus of media attention in the wake of a recent killing allegedly committed by an undocumented immigrant who had been released from custody by San Francisco police. Four Bay Area counties recently agreed to notify federal immigration agents whenever inmates flagged for possible deportation are released from jail. Dean Johnson said that it's important for police to carefully balance the need to cooperate with immigration authorities with the necessity of maintaining the trust of immigrant communities.
"It's a very important balance that local law enforcement has to make in trying to report to federal authorities those serious criminal offenders while at the same time having the trust and cooperation of immigrant communities that they need the trust and cooperation of in order to enforce criminal laws," Dean Johnson said.
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.