Deputy sheriffs in Monroe County no longer have discretion on whether to call for assistance from Border Patrol.
"Those decisions have been taken out of our hands for accountability purposes,” said Deputy Ray Ruiz, one of the department’s community liaisons.
The question comes into play when, for example, a person is being ticketed for some infraction but is undocumented, doesn’t have ID, and the deputy needs to verify their identity. The accountability measure shifts the decision on whether to call on federal authorities to top levels of the department's command structure.
A supervisor is now expected to respond to the scene, assess the situation, and if they agree federal law enforcement help is required, turn the matter over their captain to make the call. The supervisor then must make “reasonable attempts” to contact the family of the person, if they are detained.
Those steps are spelled out in a February internal bulletin obtained by WXXI News through an open records request. The department says it hasn’t changed policy, but expanded oversight — “so, you know, if we do make that call, it's a last resort call,” said Sheriff's Office spokesman Deputy David Marcucci.
“We're putting that in there to make sure that there's an extra set of eyes," Marcucci said. “To make sure that our already-established practices and procedures are followed by all the deputies at all hours of the day and night.”
In separate incidents last year, calls to Border Patrol resulted in a woman allegedly caught stealing from the Penfield Wegmans and a teenager suspected of driving without a license being detained. The woman, who was eight months pregnant, got deported. Family and friends of the teenager searched for hours before figuring out which agency had him.
Neither case was cited as the impetus for the Feb. 10 bulletin, which was to be read over three consecutive days at shift change.
Written in bold letters, the bulletin states: “The authority to determine if it is appropriate to summon any federal agency in these instances will rest with a Police Bureau Captain or above.”
Part of a larger effort
Under the city of Rochester’s sanctuary policy, RPD officers also must get prior approval from a captain or higher before contacting Border Patrol. But the city only mandates one level of review, though the need for identity verification is limited. Most often, if identification becomes an issue, officers take the person to the county jail, which is run by the sheriff.
Democratic county legislators have pushed for clarity on the sheriff’s policies, as well as preparedness should New York see a surge in immigration enforcement.
A Jan. 29 letter signed by Legislature Vice President Mercedes Vazquez Simmons and a half dozen colleagues, asked about planning, roles and responsibilities in the wake of the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.
WXXI News filed its open records request on Feb. 13, seeking policies or general orders for calling or responding to Border Patrol, and a record of any policy changes. The county responded in March, with a standard form stating that additional time was needed to gather the documents. Release of the two-page bulletin and a snapshot of the Sheriff’s Office webpage that provides a broad strokes policy summary came on April 9.
Anytime a deputy concludes during the course of a criminal investigation, that all possible methods of identification have been exhausted and believes it’s necessary to request a federal agency to help with identification of an individual, a supervisor must first be notified and will respond to the scene to ensure that all other options have been thoroughly exhausted and that the identification is essential to the overall public interest in the underlying cause. Prior to any requests for assistance by Federal LE partners (CBP, ICE, HSI, DEA, etc.) the supervisor will send the request up the chain of command. The authority to determine if it is appropriate to summon any federal agency in these instances will rest with a Police Bureau Captain or above.Excerpt from Feb. 10 Monroe County Sheriff's Office bulletin
The bulletin also addresses under what circumstance deputies could get involved in federal immigration activities — which is solely for officer and public safety not enforcement activities themselves. And it covers jail operations.
Asked about what prompted the bulletin, Marcucci said calling federal authorities should be a supervisor-level call, the same as calling in State Police or calling out a technician or other specialty personnel. He also described it was the latest in ongoing efforts to address “general anxiety” in the immigrant community.
Sheriff Todd Baxter in February also asked Deputy Ruiz to take a more active role in outreach, Ruiz said, speaking as a guest on WXXI’s Connections with Evan Dawson last week.
Shift in messaging
Immigration advocates say they have noted a shift in how the Sheriff’s Office is messaging its role in immigration matters, being more intentional about emphasizing they do not work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“It's incumbent on us to make sure that people know that they can call 911, and not have to worry," Marcucci said. “Imagine that, right? You're already a victim, you know, and now you have to worry about if you can even call the police to help you as a victim?
“I can't even imagine feeling like that,” he continued, “(and) we want to take that away.”
The shift in messaging or direction is slight but evident when compared to a year ago.
At the time, Sheriff Baxter said he was trying "to just be the calm in the storm” as President Donald Trump took office for his second term, promising a mass deportation effort that he claimed would rely on local law enforcement. Baxter talked about the fear then, too, and the need for local law enforcement to maintain trust in the immigrant community. He stressed that the Sheriff’s Office does not do immigration work nor profile people to stop.
And he discussed a deputy calling Border Patrol to confirm the pregnant woman’s ID, which he said was “reasonable.” She and another person were caught allegedly walking out with an overloaded cart containing $800 in groceries and merchandise, records show.
“Through our investigation, we learned that she may be from Columbia,” Baxter said at the time. “We're having an immigration issue here, right? Possibly. So we're going to use all our federal partners to our advantage when people are doing criminal activity.”
He added there were other contributing circumstances, including a language barrier. And he had noted it was not uncommon for Border Patrol to offer assistance with translating.
Fast forward to this year. The bulletin’s first directive states the Sheriff’s Office will not use federal authorities for language translation, as: “We have contracts with civilian interpretation services that are to be used specifically for that purpose."
Correction: The third in command of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office is the police bureau chief. An earlier version of this story misidentified the order of rank.
