Immigration and gang violence propel crusade
The Los Angeles Police Department was one of the first in the nation to institute a procedure that prohibits officers from initiating contact with people for the sole purpose of learning their immigration status. The procedure, known as Special Order 40, was designed in part to reassure illegal immigrants who historically had shied from reporting crimes and assisting police investigations.
But in the context of contemporary immigration politics, the procedure is now perceived in black neighborhoods and beyond as a roadblock to using immigration laws as a tool against Latino gang violence. A push to reverse the procedure is viewed by many as a symbol of deeper racial conflicts in South Los Angeles and has inflamed tensions between many blacks and Hispanic immigrants, as shifting demographics and a smattering of racially motivated killings have racked South Los Angeles. JENNIFER SEINHAUER in The New York Times.