Sheriff Defends Department On Immigration Enforcement

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz responds to a comment that his office is guilty of so-called ethnic cleansing. The term was used on Monday by Miguel Rivera with the National Coalition of Latino Clergy. The group was in Tulsa to spearhead a lawsuit against Oklahoma's Immigration Reform Bill. Sheriff Stanley Glanz says his office is only interested in deporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz says they typically only check the residency status of people who are arrested and brought to jail. He says it would be a rare occasion, such as when they find a warrant that his deputies would check a person's residency status during a traffic stop.

"You know we're not going out and doing roundups or anything like that. All we're doing is mainly checking people booked in our jail and then we're doing some other investigations with ICE," said Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz.

He says they actually try to educate people on how to find sponsors for illegals, so they can get a work permit. Sheriff Stanley Glanz says "ethnic cleansing" is a very harsh accusation.

Originally aired 10/16/2007 4:58 PM - Updated 10/17/2007 9:46 AM