12:33 PM CST on Thursday, November 17, 2005

By DON WALL / WFAA-TV

WFAA-TV

Juan Lizcano in the back seat of a patrol car after the shooting.

Questions have been raised about the lack of a policy that would have kept the accused murderer of a Dallas police officer from going free two months ago.

If the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement had identified Juan Lizcano as an illegal immigrant, Officer Brian Jackson might still be alive.

ICE missed two opportunities to detain and deport Lizcano. The first came when the suspect was arrested for making a terroristic threat on September 11. It happened again six days later, when Lizcano was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

"We've expressed our frustrations before that we keep arresting the same people over and over again," said Dallas police Chief David Kunkle.

ICE officials and police personnel differ on why Lizcano was not in custody.

ICE has an office in the jail so it can screen inmates and find illegal immigrants. However, immigration officials said they need help from police - help that didn’t come when Lizcano was booked in September.

"It is ‘up to the arresting officer to notify ICE' … and we have no record of Lizcano being referred to us," said ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok.

Dallas police said it's not their job to track illegal immigrants like Lizcano.

"Immigration code does not allow, does not authorize us to enforce immigration law," Dallas police spokesperson Gil Cerda said. “We don't do any kind of enforcement at all as far as immigration is concerned."

And that's the problem. Immigration personnel want police to call them about illegals, but police say they have no authority to do so.

"This makes you a little bit angrier, because you would have liked to have seen some kind of intervention which could have taken him off the streets," Kunkle said.

WFAA was allowed to see the Dallas Police policy that prohibits officers from getting involved in immigration cases.

However, when ICE officials were asked to show the policy detailing the police department's responsibilities, WFAA was told it's an unwritten recommendation.

Both sides said the issue will need to be reviewed.

E-mail dwall@wfaa.com