WBIR Staff and Raishad Hardnett, WBIR 9:05 AM. EDT July 19, 2017

A few people are publicly showing their disapproval of the recently approved 287(g) immigration enforcement program in Knox County.

WBIR 10News reporter Louis Fernandez noticed a few people unfurling a banner as he drove over the Hall of Fame Drive bridge around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

When he went back to look at it, the banner featured the words "287(g)" with the no symbol over it.



The 287(g) program trains deputies to check a suspect's immigration status once an arrest is made. The Knox County Sheriff's Ofccise said it will cut down on how long the department has to hold detainees to determine their immigration status, but other counties that adopted it have faced serious financial dilemmas.

A 2012 study by researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill analyzed the first two counties in North Carolina to adopt the same 287(g) "jail model" Knox County was approved for.

In Mecklenburg County of North Carolina, training supplies, salaries for four weeks training, plus staffing costs for 10 ICE-trained deputies all amounted to $500,000. But the big expense came with the cost of detaining immigrants, which cost the county $4.8 million.

It cites similar costs in jurisdictions nationwide that led to a spiraling budget deficit in an Arizona county and heightened taxes in a Virginia county.

“In Prince William County in Virginia, the estimated cost of the 287(g) program is $6.4 million annually and $25.9 million for five years,” the study reads. “The initial costs were much higher than anticipated and allocated for, resulting in the Board of Commissioners raising property taxes by five percent and also reducing funds given to police and fire services.”

Additionally, because of many immigration lawyers advise their clients to delay posting bond, Jennings warned, any increase in immigrant detainment could prove especially expensive for the county.

“We will typically advise our clients to not post a criminal bond, because it just means that you’re going to be whisked away by ICE and you won’t be able to defend your case," Jennings said. "So they’re going to spend a longer time in jail waiting for their court date than if there had been no detainer issued in the first place.”

Knox County is currently the only law enforcement agency in Tennessee to participate in the program.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/287g-...idge/457828535