Department Immigration Policy

It is the policy of the Port Chester Police Department to not inquire as to immigration status unless such status is pertinent to a criminal case. An example of this would be a human trafficking case in which the victim was threatened due to his or her immigration status. As municipal police officers, members of the Department are not authorized to detain or arrest persons based on their immigration status alone. The Department does however cooperate with immigration authorities in cases involving serious criminal charges, or on requests from immigration authorities to hold people so charged on detainers. These detainers are similar to warrants issued by a local court. Subjects arrested by the Department for serious criminal charges are fingerprinted. These fingerprints are made available to both state and federal authorities. Persons so charged who are considered undocumented are often interdicted by immigration authorities. This is done in most cases at the local correctional level such as the Westchester County Jail or Rikers Island and is not done at the request of this agency. It is the Department's policy to assist immigration authorities when requested. This usually involves cases in which prisoners in our custody are the subject of immigration warrants referred to as detainers. The policy followed by the Port Chester Police Department mirrors that of most local law enforcement agencies in the New York metropolitan area.

Christopher Rosabella