Citizenship Requirements for Law Enforcement Officials

Citizenship requirement for law enforcement hurts immigrants

Angela Kelley	- Download MP3-

pdf: On The Beat

By Perla Trevizo
Staff Writer

A citizenship requirement to become a police officer or firefighter in many states, including Tennessee and Georgia, keeps recent immigrants here from qualifying for those jobs.

Beatriz Hickman, 36, a native of Colombia who has been living in Chattanooga for three years, said it is her dream to be a police officer and serve the community, but because she is not a citizen she does not qualify.

"I really don't understand why I can't become a police officer," she said. "My legal permanent card says I'm here legally and that I can work legally."

Ms. Hickman is obtaining her citizenship, but the cutoff age to become a police officer is 40 so she has limited time, she said.

In Tennessee, the citizenship requirement to be a police officer or a special deputy has been state law since 1981.

Chattanooga Police Sgt. Tonya Ransom said the requirement is one of the department's greatest challenges. Department officials basically are waiting for the next generation of immigrants, "those who are born here," to become police officers.

"We're even losing individuals who have college degrees and experience because they are not U.S. citizens," she said.

Requirements elsewhere

Some departments, such as the Los Angeles Police Department, require applicants who are legal permanent residents to apply for U.S. citizenship by the time they take the department's written entrance exam and to become citizens by their third year on the force.

Sgt. Ransom said it would be a "wonderful idea" to implement in Chattanooga.

Officials said there are no foreign-born firefighters in the Chattanooga Fire Department or in Hamilton County Emergency Services. The Chattanooga Police Department does not keep such records, police officials said.

Sgt. Ransom said she has been in the military and in law enforcement, and she does not understand why the citizenship requirement applies only to police officers.

"To me the responsibilities (of the military and law enforcement) are the same. ... The thing is that we (law enforcement) do it on a daily basis," she said.

Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said the military and law enforcement are different branches of government.

"The military has essentially no jurisdiction over the average citizen of the United States. ... Defending the nation is a completely different set of circumstances than enforcing the laws of a state," he said.

"Law enforcement is tasked with a huge responsibility of enforcing the statutes of the state, and in order to do that one needs to be, in my mind, fully assimilated into the society and the culture," Sen. Watson said. "And I think that is why full citizenship is a necessary requirement for that."

Georgia situation

Chief Jason Parker of the Dalton Police Department in Georgia said he believes the citizenship requirement in Georgia is "adequate."

Keith Dempsey, training coordinator with the Dalton Fire Department, said there are no foreign-born officers on the force. The closest is a firefighter of Hispanic heritage who was born in the United States, he said.

According to the Immigration Policy Center report "On the Beat: New Roles and Challenges for Immigrant Police Firefighters," until recently citizenship was a non-negotiable requirement for joining the ranks of most police and fire departments.

"Even today, while some police forces have begun to welcome qualified foreign-born residents, most do so with the assumption that they are either U.S. citizens or on the process of becoming citizens," the report stated.

As of 2006 there were 46,000 foreign-born police officers and detectives and about 9,700 foreign-born firefighters on the job in the United States, according to the center, a research institution dedicated to study and analysis of contributions made to America by immigrants.

Angela Kelley, director of the center, said as police departments try to assess how they best can meet the needs of a community, it is difficult to ignore its ethnic makeup.

"The cornerstone of a successful police department, I would imagine, is trust with the community; a relationship where people in the community feel safe and confident to come to the police and report what they've seen or experienced," she said.

"If you can do that in your own language, with a person that respects your customs ... you are more likely to feel comfortable," Ms. Kelley said.

Georgia state Rep. Jay Neal, R-LaFayette, said he would look into the citizenship requirement to see if something like what the Los Angeles Police Department is doing would be beneficial in Georgia.

But Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge, said if local law enforcement officials are interested in changing the citizenship requirement law, he would "certainly sit down and listen to them."

"If it's something that the majority of the law enforcement community would like to see done, I see no reason why we wouldn't try to get it changed," Rep. Dean said.

E-mail Perla Trevizo at ptrevizo@timesfreepress.com