1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PRESS CONFERENCE 9 "A SUMMIT ON CRIME - COMING TOGETHER FOR 10 UTAH'S FUTURE" 11 12 13 14 15 16 Room 150A 17 Salt Palace 18 Salt Lake City, Utah 19 June 30, 1997 20 12:30 p.m. 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 June 30, 1997 12:30 p.m. 2 3 ORRIN HATCH: Utah was not ready for the 4 crime increase which came with our state's 5 phenomenal growth. The purpose of this summit is 6 not to assign blame but to come together to 7 initiate the development and implementation of a 8 Utah blueprint to solve our crime problems. I 9 believe we are beginning to turn the corner on 10 crime. Our coming together like this is a clear 11 step in turning that corner. Our blueprint against 12 crime must be Utah's plan, not Washington's. 13 Following the summit we will draft this 14 blueprint -- blueprint. Paul Cassell of the 15 University of Utah, one of our brightest and best 16 professors of law in the country, is serving as our 17 secretary, and he is going to help to craft this 18 blueprint. Key participants will be involved in 19 drafting this document. 20 The federal government, however, must be a 21 player, especially in light of the illegal alien 22 problem. And I am pleased that these federal 23 officials have come here to listen and to work with 24 us today. We are very gratified to have them and 25 we're very honored to have these great federal 3 1 officials. These are the top people in federal law 2 enforcement in our country. 3 On this first day we've already seen some 4 positive developments. Federal law enforcement 5 officials have agreed to assist in the 6 implementation of a long-term strategy to reduce 7 crime in Utah. Attorney General Reno has announced 8 the establishment of the first ever project where 9 state and local law enforcement will be given the 10 power to enforce federal immigration laws. We will 11 double the number of repatriation flights out of 12 Utah to Mexico. We will increase federal jail 13 space from 75 beds to between 250 and 300. In 14 addition, the department will explore avenues to 15 assist with the costs associated with construction 16 and/or renovation of county facilities. Efforts 17 will also be made to ensure adequate jail space is 18 guaranteed in southern Utah. 19 We are also going to study placing 20 federal -- a federal prison in Utah. Should Utahns 21 decide to support the idea of locating such a 22 facility in Utah, the department has agreed to work 23 with appropriate officials to study the possible 24 locations in Utah and, of course, the possibility 25 of bringing it here. The Department of Justice 4 1 will initiate a multijurisdictional, quote, "Clean 2 Sweep," unquote, initiative to target criminal 3 aliens engaged in drug trafficking and violent 4 crime. 5 As part of this initiative we'll get three 6 new prosecutors and five new FBI agents and an 7 enhanced Drug Enforcement Administration presence. 8 Already Commissioner Meissner of the -- of the INS, 9 the Immigration and Naturalization Service, is 10 saying that we'll get more and more help from the 11 INS as well. 12 Federal law endorsement presence will 13 gradually increase in the coming years as Utah 14 prepares for the Olympic games, and Director Freeh 15 of the FBI has made that clear that they're already 16 working on that, so we believe that will all be in 17 place by the time we have our Olympics in 2002. 18 Governor Leavitt today has announced a 19 major voluntary initiative which is a truly 20 positive development. The governor has also called 21 for a 1000 person increase in law enforcement and 22 correction officers. These are all first steps but 23 they are very positive developments, and we are 24 very, very happy to have these federal government 25 people here today, the top people in law 5 1 enforcement in our country, and I'm sure they're 2 prepared to take any questions that you have. 3 So we'll turn the time over to you, and 4 you've got the Attorney General of the United 5 States, you've got the head of our Marshal Service, 6 you've got the director of the FBI Louis Freeh, 7 you've got the -- the administrator of the Drug 8 Enforcement Administration Thomas Constantine, 9 you've got the head -- the commissioner of the 10 Immigration and Naturalization Services Doris 11 Meissner, of course, our own wonderful Lieutenant 12 Governor, and my own partner in crime back there in 13 Washington. And don't take that seriously but 14 (laughter) some people do. Senator Robert Bennett 15 is a great, great asset to Utah and is helping us 16 greatly in these areas, especially on the Senate 17 Appropriations Committee. So we'll be happy to 18 take any questions you have. 19 Yes. 20 VOICE: My question and for you, and -- 21 ORRIN HATCH: For me? 22 VOICE: Yes. My first one, anyway. 23 ORRIN HATCH: Okay. 24 VOICE: And that's on the locating of the 25 federal prison -- or the possibility of locating a 6 1 federal prison here in Utah. If we could send our 2 prisoners who commit federal crimes and are 3 prosecuted as such to any federal prison, why would 4 we want to have a federal prison here? 5 ORRIN HATCH: Well, because there needs to 6 be developed federal prisons. Having one here 7 would be not only a -- a matter of prestige and a 8 follow onto Utah's desire to support law 9 enforcement in the country, but would also provide 10 350 to 400 jobs in Utah as well as provide us with 11 a means of having enough bed space and other 12 detention space to be able to take care of the 13 increased crimes that are occurring here as our 14 population is increasing. 15 One of the problems is that the federal 16 government, in looking at these places, probably 17 looks less at rural Utah than it would to being at 18 or near major airports so we can transport those 19 prisoners, but they may look at that as well. And 20 it will be up to the people here in Utah as to 21 whether or not we -- we would entertain the idea of 22 having a federal penitentiary here. On the other 23 hand, it would be a great -- a great privilege for 24 Utah to do so. 25 But that doesn't mean we'll get it, even at 7 1 that, it's just if -- if the people in Utah do 2 think that's a good idea, then we're certainly 3 going to make an effort to see if we can have one 4 here. 5 VOICE: As Attorney General, this 6 establishment of a first-ever multijurisdictional 7 immigration working project, are we -- what is the 8 thrust of this here? Are we talking about a 9 workplace freeze? 10 JANET RENO: What we're talking about is 11 the frustration sometimes of a sheriff who picks up 12 someone who he knows to be an illegal alien. There 13 is no one that can respond, or someone says "Well, 14 we can't really do anything." What we need to do 15 is to work together first by drafting regulations 16 to implement the act in the right way to make sure 17 that there's proper understanding and training of 18 the responsibilities involved, that there's close 19 coordination, and then try to use the resources 20 that we all have to enforce the laws of this 21 country the right way. 22 And if I may take just a moment, I'd like, 23 also, Senator, to recognize Scott Matheson our U.S. 24 attorney, who has done such a fine job. 25 ORRIN HATCH: You should be up here with 8 1 us. We might have some tough questions for you. 2 VOICE: Ms. Reno, you've announced 3 different ways in which the Justice Department will 4 be giving more resources to Utah. Would you be 5 doing this if Senator Hatch weren't from Utah? 6 JANET RENO: Well, when I came out here I 7 wanted to make sure, and I asked my staff to sit 8 down. It's clear to me -- and what I've tried to 9 do is focus on communities. As the crime rate has 10 gone down across America I've tried to focus where 11 there may be problems, to see what we can do 12 working with state and local officials and citizens 13 to turn it around. And here, obviously, with the 14 increase in population, the circumstances here with 15 the increasing number of young people and with the 16 fact that youth violence is a problem around 17 America, and if you have an increasing number of 18 young people that is going to exacerbate the 19 problem in that community, I wanted to see what we 20 could do and do it the right way. And I 21 specifically said, "Now, I don't want to do 22 anything just because he's the chairman of the 23 Judiciary Committee, I want to do it because it is 24 right and because we have a wonderful opportunity 25 to work with the people of the state of Utah." And 9 1 all you have to do and look out there this morning 2 and see the great cross-section of people and 3 realize that this is a really splendid opportunity. 4 And, Senator, thank you for calling it. 5 ORRIN HATCH: And we're happy to have you 6 here. 7 Yes. 8 VOICE: This I suppose would be for either 9 Janet Reno or Doris Meissner. Could you elaborate 10 a bit more on the immigration project, what some of 11 the local people might be doing in various types of 12 tasks and how many local people would be involved. 13 Would their -- would their authorization would be 14 for a temporary period or an extensive period, 15 would it have a deadline at the end of it? Tell us 16 a little bit more about how the whole thing will 17 operate. 18 JANET RENO: First of all, the act passed 19 last year authorized programs such as this and 20 authorized the cross-designation. A lot was put on 21 the Immigration and Naturalization Service in terms 22 of developing regulations that went into effect and 23 have a dramatic and immediate impact on people, and 24 so the first efforts have been -- of the INS have 25 been to focus on those regulations. 10 1 They're in the process of developing the 2 regulations. I can't give you the contours, but 3 Doris correct me if I'm wrong, but here are the 4 frustrations I see. As a local prosecutor I would 5 have somebody identified as probably a drug dealer, 6 but there was insufficient evidence to charge them 7 when the case was finally reviewed by prosecutors. 8 I would love for that illegal alien, after they 9 have been appropriately identified and everything 10 has been handled according to constitutional due 11 process, to be immediately identified and removed 12 from the country. I think we can work with 13 everybody concerned to develop a partnership so 14 that we use state and local law enforcement 15 properly trained under these regulations to do it. 16 But as I said earlier, sometimes things don't move 17 as fast in Washington as they do in Salt Lake City, 18 but we're going to try to get these regs done as 19 soon as possible. 20 VOICE: Will this pilot be the only pilot 21 project or will there be other states involved? 22 JANET RENO: We are going to start with 23 Utah and just -- and I'm even more convinced that 24 this is the place to start after talking with 25 people this morning. I mean, there's such a good, 11 1 close working relationship. And what impressed me 2 so much about law enforcement is that they 3 understand how important it is that we don't 4 profile people, that we don't pick on one group of 5 people, that we just take it based on the facts and 6 do it according to due process, do it with respect 7 to -- to the tradition of this nation as a nation 8 of immigrants and do it with regard to legal 9 immigration as well. I think this can be a perfect 10 place to do it and show that it can be done 11 effectively and in the right way. 12 VOICE: Ms. Meissner, Commissioner 13 Meissner, here in Utah, if I understand correctly, 14 the INS has essentially got an unlisted phone 15 number recently. They changed their numbers and 16 they aren't telling the public what it is, and 17 they're closing down their office to the public one 18 day a week, and they say they're just overloaded 19 and can't do anymore. Would you tell us if that's 20 true and why and what -- what's happening to make 21 them so overworked. 22 DORIS MEISSNER: You're talking now about 23 an entirely different part of the operation than 24 what we've been discussing this morning. You're 25 talking about our adjudicating applications. We 12 1 have been overwhelmed here, as in other parts of 2 the country, particularly with Naturalization 3 applications, and that -- and we're talking now 4 about double and triple caseloads in -- in 5 Naturalization. Our local office here went into 6 basically a stand-down position for a couple of 7 weeks in order to regroup and try to get on top of 8 the application load. We are -- we definitely are 9 an organization that is open to the public, and we 10 need to be answering all those questions. We 11 certainly want to be able to answer our telephones, 12 and as soon as this very short period of cataloging 13 the applications and being sure of what our 14 workload is and how to tackle it is complete, we'll 15 be publishing our phone numbers and we will be 16 available for questions. So we will be back in 17 touch on that very quickly. 18 VOICE: Did I understand you that this 19 stand-down with respect to applications doesn't 20 affect the enforcement of -- of the law against 21 illegal aliens? 22 DORIS MEISSNER: That's correct. It has to 23 do only with the Naturalization caseload. We're 24 temporarily unable to get on top of it. 25 VOICE: In protecting the constitutional 13 1 rights of the Hispanic U.S. citizens who do not 2 speak English, what is the Department of Justice 3 doing to ensure that they're not deported when U.S. 4 citizens are Hispanic and do not speak English? 5 JANET RENO: In all of these situations we 6 want to make sure there is appropriate 7 communication, that if somebody is a permanent -- 8 legal permanent resident of this country or they're 9 a citizen of this country they're not focussed on 10 inappropriately, and if there is some circumstance 11 that causes their deportation to be considered that 12 there is a full and fair review process so it 13 doesn't happen. 14 VOICE: Could you define "appropriate." 15 JANET RENO: I'd have to define it in the 16 absence of any specific occasion or circumstance. 17 VOICE: Several months ago Senator Hatch 18 had you (inaudible) Trentadue's brother lives here 19 in Salt Lake at the federal prison. What is the 20 progress on that, Janet? 21 JANET RENO: I had followed that case 22 closely from the time it was first called to my 23 attention to make sure that the civil rights 24 division in the FBI followed up appropriately. 25 Senator Hatch asked me to check into it again 14 1 earlier this spring, and we checked. It is under 2 investigation. And other than that I can't 3 comment. 4 VOICE: Is that a separate investigation 5 from this? 6 JANET RENO: No. The grand jury 7 investigation is part -- is part of the criminal 8 investigation. 9 VOICE: (Inaudible). 10 ORRIN HATCH: Not completely, because the 11 grand jury meets so seldom that -- 12 VOICE: (Inaudible). 13 JANET RENO: Yes. The Senator asked me to 14 check into that. He asked to make sure there was 15 sufficient grand jury time, and I was told there 16 was sufficient grand jury time. 17 VOICE: (Inaudible) 18 DORIS MEISSNER: It's always a tough 19 question as to where you prioritize. We will try 20 and meet the needs as best we can. I think that in 21 government we often try to get by in the most 22 efficient way possible, and -- and which causes 23 some prioritization. And, of course, we -- 24 everyone would like additional staff, everyone 25 would like additional attention. Any staff that we 15 1 can get from the federal government will be greatly 2 appreciated. We always work closely with the 3 legislature to try and meet the needs. I don't 4 think that anyone is ever, ever fully satisfied 5 with the degree of staffing that we have, but I 6 think overall our employees work harder and 7 probably are the most dedicated in the country, and 8 so we get a lot of good effort out of employees we 9 have. And is it ever enough? No. Could we always 10 use more? Yes. But I think overall we are 11 probably more productive than any other state. 12 I don't know whether that totally answers 13 your question. 14 VOICE: I guess my question is more 15 directly: Is this going to do anything but add to 16 their workload? I mean -- 17 DORIS MEISSNER: Let's let -- he has some 18 more perspective. 19 THOMAS CONSTANTINE: Maybe. The 20 cross-deputization that was referred to before, the 21 highway patrol troopers were given what's called 22 Title 21 authority. In essence it gives them the 23 same authority in those circumstances as a DEA 24 agent. They go through a training program, they 25 actually agree to certain limitations and liability 16 1 protection, which I think is very important both to 2 the troopers and to the state to protect the 3 troopers and for their own protection. Their 4 workload would not change. What happens is with 5 the uniform troopers in Utah and other places in a 6 course of conducting traffic investigations, very 7 often they find individuals that are wanted 8 sometimes for murders, sometimes for robberies, 9 oftentimes lately for drug violations, and as a 10 result of that we're making the arrests for the 11 drug violation. Now with the new authority they 12 not only can make an arrest for the state-level 13 violation of that crime, which is I think, as you 14 heard, because of prison capacity is a very 15 difficult situation presently for the state of 16 Utah, they can make that a federal violation of the 17 law, and then there may be a better alternative for 18 the resolution of the matter once convicted. 19 It also gives not only the highway patrol 20 but the state of Utah an opportunity to share 21 adequately in the assets that are seized at that 22 point. As I think as the person in charge of the 23 highway patrol has already mentioned, already there 24 have been $10 million that has been seized by that 25 particular agency. By having Title 21 authority 17 1 that allows them then to take part in the asset 2 seizure. That money goes directly to the State of 3 Utah, it's directly to the Utah Highway Patrol, the 4 criminal justice system. So cross-deputization 5 really enhances the assets of the state, it doesn't 6 limit them. 7 DORIS MEISSNER: That's where I think we'll 8 have a few extra staff, and we'll -- 9 VOICE: (inaudible) -- for those law 10 enforcement officers who are out in the street, 11 what will they be able to do (inaudible) a green 12 card? 13 DORIS MEISSNER: Well, I think we're 14 talking about two different things here. What Tom 15 Constantine is talking about is what you've 16 described. What the Attorney General is speaking 17 about is the Memorandum of Understanding that will 18 follow the regulations on state and local law 19 enforcement are still in the -- in the process 20 of -- those regulations are still in the process of 21 being written. 22 And exactly those questions are the ones we 23 need to answer: What would be the extent of the 24 authority of local law enforcement, what would be 25 the type of training that we would provide? It's 18 1 an extremely sensitive area. And first and 2 foremost in our thinking is that we would be 3 certain to attach and properly be preserving the 4 rights and liberties of the people who are here. 5 We do know that in implementing any kind of sharing 6 of authority with state and local law enforcement 7 that we will need to be training local officials 8 very, very carefully, and the scope of what they 9 would be doing will have to be carefully defined. 10 That's why we are suggesting the pilot, and we 11 think Utah would be a good pilot for the reasons 12 that the Attorney General explained, so that we 13 test and be sure we have those straight. 14 VOICE: Some of the members of the Hispanic 15 or minority communities say that they're not -- 16 they're not part of this plan and they feel like 17 they should be. Do you plan on in inviting them in 18 this plan? 19 DORIS MEISSNER: Yes. We are still in 20 the -- we are still in the conceptual stage. We're 21 still at the point of developing regulations and 22 what the -- what the concept is. As soon as we 23 have that firmly established internally, we'll be 24 reaching out and inviting them in. 25 VOICE: In that regard (inaudible). 19 1 DORIS MEISSNER: Those recommendations have 2 to be published so the people can comment on them 3 so that everyone will have an opportunity to fully 4 participate and be heard. 5 VOICE: When would that be? 6 DORIS MEISSNER: We hope to be able to have 7 a draft of the regulation, as the attorney general 8 said, sometime this fall. 9 ORRIN HATCH: We have got to get back into 10 our conference. 11 12 * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25