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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:34 pm Post subject: Reps. tell Obama to let police arrest illegal immigrants
Reps. tell Obama to let police arrest illegal immigrants
October 27th, 2009, 3:56 pm · 17 Comments · posted by Dena Bunis,
More than 50 lawmakers, including all five GOP House members from Orange County, have written to President Barack Obama asking him not to restrict the ability of local police to arrest illegal immigrants.
Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano – a former Arizona governor- recently set limits on local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws, saying that they should limit their efforts to immigrants who have committed serious crimes.
“The Obama administration should not politicize this highly effective immigration enforcement and public safety’’ said Rep. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who drafted the letter to Obama. It was signed by 53 Republicans and one Democrat, Heath Shuler of North Carolina. Click here to read the letter.
Smith, along with former Orange County Rep. Christopher Cox, co-authored the so-called 287g provision of immigration law. That measure allows local police and sheriff’s department to sign an agreement with federal officials to help enforce immigration laws.
Orange County has such an agreement that gives the Sheriff’s Department the ability to screen jail inmates and turn over illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement once they have served their sentences.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman John McDonald said the department is still negotiating with federal officials on a new agreement that would comply with Napolitano’s new guidelines.
So far this year 45,741 inmates at the Orange County jail have been screened and 2,383 have been turned over to federal immigration officials.
McDonald said the fact that only 6 percent of those turned over to ICE has wound up back at the jail shows the program is successful. That 6 percent, he said, is far less than the recidivism rate of general population inmates.
The DHS secretary just might be doing something right given that Republicans are complaining that her new rules will hamstring law enforcement while immigration advocates are also critical of her for not ending the 287G program.
“Thanks to the 287 G program, Smith says, “thousands of illegal immigrants that are identified in jails and through task force operations are being identified and deported.’’
Those task force operations are no longer going to be part of the agreements. A General Accountability Office report and immigration advocates have said that some law enforcement officials have been guilty of racial profiling and overstepping their authority under these 287 G pacts.
Napolitano had suspended the 287g program, requiring all the law enforcement agencies with agreements to renegotiate them. Before it was halted there were 66 agencies all across the country taking part.
DHS decided to tighten up the program, both in terms of looking out for people’s civil rights and making sure that only people who committed “serious” crimes are screened.
In recent weeks the DHS move set up a confrontation with Mariposa Sheriff Joe Arpaio who is famous for conducting sweeps in his communities, rounding up people who are in the country illegally.
ICE officials have told Arpaio to stop the sweeps but he has vowed to continue doing them.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Jamie Zuieback
202-225-6906
54 Members of Congress to Obama: We Support 287(g) Program
Washington, DC – Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) and 53 other Members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama today expressing their support for a broadly-applied 287(g) program. The letter comes just days after the Obama administration implemented limits on state and local law enforcement agencies who participate in the 287(g) program. The limits prevent state and local law enforcement officers from arresting many of the illegal immigrants with whom they come into contact.
Ranking Member Smith, who co-authored the legislation that created 287(g), said:
“The Obama administration should not politicize this highly effective immigration enforcement and public safety program. Thanks to the 287(g) program, thousands of illegal immigrants that are identified in jails and through task force operations are being identified and deported.
“Claims that the program was supposed to focus only on ‘serious’ crimes are false. The program was created to let state and local law enforcement officials help enforce all immigration laws, not just a select few. One of the most effective things we can do to prevent illegal immigrant crimes in the first place is to deport illegal immigrants before they’ve committed one, whether they are identified in jails or by law enforcement task forces.
“The open borders crowd doesn’t like the 287(g) program because it is working -- thousands of illegal immigrants are being identified and deported. It is so popular that the Department of Homeland Security rejected dozens of applications due to funding shortfalls in the last few years.
“Local law enforcement agencies deserve our thanks for helping to remove illegal immigrants from our communities before they threaten American lives and property. The Obama administration should not limit local agencies’ ability to help enforce our nation’s laws.”
According to the letter:
“The 287(g) program, whether through jail intake, task force or other operational models, is effective and has been used by jurisdictions across the United States to help reduce crime and illegal immigration. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) own website states ‘[T]he 287(g) program has emerged as one of the agency’s most successful and popular partnership initiatives as more state and local leaders have come to understand how a shared approach to immigration enforcement can benefit their communities.’ It allows law enforcement officials direct access to the information needed, and the authority, to issue detainers and hold an illegal immigrant until ICE is available to transport the individual to a detention facility.
“According to ICE statistics, ‘[S]ince January 2006, the 287(g) program is credited with identifying more than 130,000 potentially removable aliens – mostly at local jails. More than 1075 officers have been trained and certified through the program....’ The number of participating jurisdictions, currently at 57, has been as high as 67. Participants include local police departments, county sheriffs’ offices, state departments of corrections and state departments of public safety.”
In addition to Members of Congress, a study released this month indicates that Americans also support the 287(g) program. According to Rasmussen Reports, 64% of those surveyed believe law enforcement officers should conduct surprise visits at locations where illegal immigrants seek employment. Only 19% opposed the visits compared to 24% who opposed such visits back in April. By a 13-point margin, Americans believe that the federal government should not prevent local law enforcement from checking an individual's immigration status even if they have committed no other crime.
The letter from Congressional 287(g) supporters follows numerous attacks on 287(g) by amnesty proponents. In addition to limiting 287(g) to only ‘serious’ criminals, the Obama administration recently stripped Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of 287(g) task force authority. In addition, both the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the New York Times editorial board recently called for the program’s termination.
good luck trying to figure out who some of those names are.
WHERE did these idiots learn to write _________________ How's that "hope and change" working for you now?
well as encouraging as that sounds, how far will hussain take it? i think as far as to the oaval office trash can. sounds like the repubs are making an effort of come kind anyway. napolitano wont let it fly,imo.
Janet is not doing her job....FIRE HER!!! she should not be allowed to pick and choose the laws she will enforce, it is not her decision!!! she must enforce the laws congress passes!
This is why we can not repeat 1986 amnesty, it is clear they never intend to enforce the laws! Open Borders to the whole world is out of the question! _________________ AUT*AGERE*AUT*MORI (EITHER ACTION OR DEATH)
Janet is not doing her job....FIRE HER!!! she should not be allowed to pick and choose the laws she will enforce, it is not her decision!!! she must enforce the laws congress passes!
This is why we can not repeat 1986 amnesty, it is clear they never intend to enforce the laws! Open Borders to the whole world is out of the question!
Unfortunately Janet is doing exactly what Obama and Masters want .......that is where her loyalty is, not with us. _________________
Running FULL FORCE AGAINST AMNESTY for ILLEGALS!!!!
Janet is not doing her job....FIRE HER!!! she should not be allowed to pick and choose the laws she will enforce, it is not her decision!!! she must enforce the laws congress passes!
This is why we can not repeat 1986 amnesty, it is clear they never intend to enforce the laws! Open Borders to the whole world is out of the question!
Unfortunately Janet is doing exactly what Obama and Masters want .......that is where her loyalty is, not with us.
What a shame huh!! But this is just the kind of thing she did in AZ and Obama knew it, another radical left as is his whole administration! _________________ AUT*AGERE*AUT*MORI (EITHER ACTION OR DEATH)
Joined: Nov 01, 2007 Posts: 3640 Location: New Alien City-(formerly New York City)
Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 12:32 pm Post subject:
I'm thinking this is just window dressing. _________________ If a man sneaks into your home he is a burglar, not an undocumented tenant you must provide for!
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