Coalition Demands Ending 287(g)
Posted on Friday, August 28 @ 00:57:38 EDT
Topic: immigration and customs enforcement
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 As prosecutors seek the death penalty for an
illegal immigrant gangbanger who murdered a high school football star a
day after being released from prison, hundreds of Latino rights groups
demand ending the program that should have saved the teen jock’s life.
The local-federal partnership known as 287(g) calls on local police
to notify federal immigration authorities whenever they arrest an
illegal immigrant. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) then takes
custody and begins deportation proceedings to rid the U.S. of violent
criminals living in the country illegally.
Subjects: Illegal Immigration, 287(g), Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Jamiel Shaw, immigrant rights organizations
August 27, 2009
Judicial Watch
Had the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
followed the plan, prep running back Jamiel Shaw would be playing
college football this fall. Instead he was gunned down by a renowned
violent street gang member who had been released—rather than
deported—after serving time for assault with a deadly weapon.
Shaw’s parents have sued the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, which
operates the county jails, of wrongful death, civil rights violations
and of breaching the section of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality
Act that outlines the immigration enforcement agreement between federal
and local authorities.
This week a coalition of influential Latino and civil rights
organizations are demanding the Obama Administration kill the
local-federal agreement that could have saved Shaw and many other crime
victims across the nation. They claim it gives local police a green
light to commit racial profiling and civil rights abuses.
In a stern two-page letter to the president, the army of immigrant
rights organizations urges terminating the 287(g) program because local
law enforcement agencies nationwide are using it to target communities
of color, specifically Latinos. This, in turn, has compromised public
safety and done nothing to solve the immigration crisis.
The groups applaud Obama’s recent remarks acknowledging the country’s
long history of African Americans and Latinos being disproportionately
stopped by law enforcement but claim the 287(g) program—recently
expanded by the administration—exacerbates exactly that type of racial
profiling.
The letter was signed by more than 500 organizations, including the
American Civil Liberties Union, Guatemalan Immigrant Movement, Mexican
American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Alianza Indigena Sin
Fronteras and La Raza Centro Legal. Many of the groups will host
vigils, marches and other protests this month to condemn and demand an
end to 287(g).
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