Proposal Aims to Prevent Profiling
Immigrants See Bias in Detroit
April 26, 2007

By Niraj Warikoo
Free Press Staff Writer

Detroit City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. proposed an ordinance Wednesday that would prohibit police officers and other city employees from asking about the immigration status of people who aren't involved in serious crimes.

Developed after talks with Latino, Arab and Muslim groups, the ordinance would also prohibit profiling based on appearance, dress, race, and other factors.

If it passes, Detroit would be the latest in a growing number of cities across the country to prevent city employees from discriminating against people because of their immigration status.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held May 4.

Cockrel said he believes the proposal will pass.

"If you're a police officer and pulling someone over for a traffic stop, why do you need to see their immigration papers?" Cockrel asked.

"That's not the responsibility of the police force, that's the responsibility of federal law enforcement to enforce immigration law."

In southwest Detroit, home to a significant number of Latino and Arab immigrants, some have complained that they are stopped because of their appearance and then asked about their immigration status. Some Muslims have said they are profiled when they wear head scarves or skullcaps.

A Detroit-based coalition, Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES), asked the city last summer to consider an ordinance that would ban such profiling.

Isabella Ramirez of Detroit said she welcomes the plan because some people she knows in southwest Detroit are profiled.

"People don't want to go out because they worry they're going to be picked up for any little thing," said Ramirez, a MOSES member.

In recent years, Los Angeles and Chicago have passed similar ordinances, making them what are sometimes referred to as sanctuary cities. Critics have said such ordinances condone illegal immigration.

The proposal provides exceptions so that police can inquire about immigration status in cases involving felonies and misdemeanors, said Rick Bowers, an attorney for Cockrel who worked on the ordinance.

The Detroit police manual prohibits officers from profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity and other factors.

A spokesman for the Detroit Police Department, Sgt. Stephen Bell, said the department had not yet seen the proposal, and James Canning, a spokesman for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said that the mayor's office has not fully reviewed it.

Cockrel said that he has been profiled in suburbs because he is an African American.

"Profiling, regardless of who it's done to, is an unacceptable practice," he said.

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO at warikoo@freepress.com.