Workforce Language Services

While interagency cooperation and support is standard and even welcomed in law enforcement, what happens when a fed is called in to assist a state cop and then finds that a federal immigration law has been violated?  Well, the Border Patrol gets to arrest them, even if they were detained for a routine traffic stop in Washington!  Since there are currently no Spanish speaking cops in Jefferson County, the police department will call in federal immigration agents if they need assistance with Spanish translation.

 Hernandez said that after the deputy completed the traffic stop, the Border Patrol agent interviewed the driver, determined there was a federal immigration violation and detained the person.

Said Brasfield: “Sgt. [Andy] Pernsteiner made a routine traffic stop as noted in the incident. We do not have any trained law enforcement personnel that speak Spanish.

“Knowing that there was a multilingual Border Patrol officer on duty, they were contacted for assistance and provided translation services.”

While spokespeople from the police department are careful to say that they are not doing the job of federal immigration agents, I wonder why the Border Patrol agent found it necessary to continue the interview with the person after the traffic stop had been completed.

Furthermore, will the use of federal immigration agents for interpretation purposes make people not call the police to report crimes for fear that their immigration status will be questioned?

To read the full article with more details about how agencies are negotiating their relationships in Washington, click here.