Thread: Immigration at Forefront in Travis County Sheriff Race

by Julián Aguilar
May 7, 2012
The Texas Tribune

In Travis County, which many consider the liberal hub of Texas, a controversial immigration-enforcement policy is at the forefront of the sheriff’s race.

Sheriff Greg Hamilton, first elected in 2004, is coming under increasing fire from his Democratic primary challenger, John Sisson, a retired Austin Police Department lieutenant, for his use of Secure Communities. The program, administered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and in place statewide, compares the fingerprints of arrested individuals to a federal database to determine whether those individuals are eligible for deportation. If a person is found to be in violation, ICE requests that a detainer be placed on the individual for 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays.

The federal government said the program is needed to ferret out violent immigrants or repeat immigration violators for deportation. But critics say that the system focuses on lower-level offenders rather than the more violent criminals. Sisson said Hamilton grants detainers on every immigrant who is booked.

“I was appalled to see what it was doing to the Hispanic community and the immigrant community here,” Sisson said. “I felt like it was very inhumane to be lazy and not do the research and say, ‘We’ll just hold everybody for deportation and not even mess with the particulars.’”

Hamilton said that he is merely following the law.

“The only one that can deport and put an immigration detainer on an individual is an ICE agent, not us,” he said. “At the Travis County Jail, we follow the law, and the law says that when an ICE detainer is put on, the law enforcement agency shall maintain that individual for 48 hours.”

From June 2009 to September 2011, Travis County submitted 80,731 fingerprint sets and removed 2,269 immigrants, including those who left voluntarily.

More than 900 were Level 3 offenders, convicted of misdemeanors, which include traffic violations and drunken driving. There were 420 Level 1 offenders and 437 Level 2. Level 1 are aggravated felonies, including murder, rape, sexual abuse of a minor and drug trafficking. Level 2 offenders are convicted of any lesser felony or three misdemeanors.

Travis County’s number of removals surpasses that of Bexar County, where about 105,600 submissions were processed, resulting in the removal of 1,479 immigrants.

Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, has a population of about 1,715,000, compared with Travis County’s population of 1,024,000.

But Hamilton said deputies release immigrants if ICE agents do not take them and they are otherwise releasable on bond.

“Secure Communities identifies the individuals that are in our community that have run afoul of law enforcement,” he said. “And I think it’s very important that somebody knows who is in the community.”

Hamilton also cited his sensitivity toward the immigrant community, legal or other- wise, most of whom he said are in search of a better life. His wife is a naturalized citizen from Honduras, he said, and his department delivers aid to Austin’s Casa Marianella immigrant shelter.

“I have never asked a question, are they here legally or illegally,” he said. “I just want to help out.”

The winner of the May 29 Democratic primary will face Raymond Frank, a former sheriff and admitted underdog Republican candidate who identifies himself as an independent in the mold of Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson.

Frank has vowed to do away with the program if he is elected because it separates families. “A lot of Republicans are pretty outspoken about immigration,” he said. “And I don’t share their views at all.”

One Old Vet

Immigration at Forefront in Travis County Sheriff Race — Immigration | The Texas Tribune

Related
http://www.alipac.us/f12/sheriff-fac...agents-255664/

Immigration central issue in Democratic primary for Travis sheriff
Deborah Cannon/AMERICAN-STATESMAN


Challenger John Sisson says the handling of a federal immigrant detainer program is 'inhumane.'


Greg Hamilton says detaining suspects with questionable immigration status, even for minor infractions, is required by law.
Deborah Cannon/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

As he seeks a third term as Travis County sheriff, Greg Hamilton would prefer the race be about issues like putting more deputies on the streets and ways to improve mental health resources for people booked into the county jail.

But after criticism from Hamilton's opponent in the Democratic primary, John Sisson, the focus has shifted almost entirely to one issue: immigration. More specifically, how the sheriff's office deals with requests from the federal government to hold suspects with questionable immigration statuses for possible deportation.

Sisson has emerged as a critic of the way the Travis County Jail handles Secure Communities, a program that helps the federal government identify potential deportation targets by comparing fingerprints against immigration databases after they are booked.

At the center of the dispute over Secure Communities are two interpretations of the federal law behind it.

Hamilton points to the part of the law that says if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement determines that a suspect should be removed from the country, "such agency shall maintain custody of the alien" for up to 48 hours until immigration officials can take the suspect into custody.

"When you work in law enforcement, you know the difference between ‘shall' and ‘may,' " said Hamilton, who was first elected to the post in 2004. "The law is the law. There are no court cases to say otherwise."

As such, Travis County Jail officials put immigration detainers on every inmate federal officials ask them to, which could lead to their deportation. Hamilton says jails are mandated by the federal government to participate in the program.

Sisson, however, cites the part of the same federal law that describes an immigration detainer as a "request," not an order.

Sisson argues that the county's practice of placing a hold or "detainer" on every suspect with immigration status issues — including those booked for minor offenses — is excessive and inhumane.

He said that if he is elected sheriff, he will place detainers only on suspects accused of violent or drug-related crimes, and that there is no penalty from the federal government for doing so.

"Secure Communities, I believe in," said Sisson, a retired Austin Police Department lieutenant and current Travis County deputy constable. However, he said he does not support the way Hamilton has made use of the program.

Sisson said it has led to a record number of deportations from Travis County and has sparked mistrust between law enforcement officials and the Hispanic community.

"It's inhumane," Sisson said. "No one should walk around Austin and Travis County in fear. (Hamilton) has instilled fear in the immigrant population."

‘But it is the law'

Hamilton said that even if he had the power to choose which inmates should be flagged for possible deportation, he has no way of knowing whether the ones who are released won't go out into the community and commit violent crimes.

"How do you know they aren't violent? Either you detain all of them or none of them," Hamilton said. "I'm not going to play God."

At a question-and-answer session held by the Circle C Area Democrats on Monday night, most questions were directed to Hamilton, and nearly all were about immigration.

"Why do you persist in unlawfully detaining thousands of immigrants?" asked Silvia Reveles-Scheller, the former state director of the Texas Immigration and Refugee Coalition.

Hamilton replied that he is following the law by honoring detention requests, but another voter, Michael Walters, pressed him on what his policy would be if he could choose whom to detain for immigration reasons. Hamilton again said he's doing what the law tells him.

"What if it wasn't the law?" Walters asked.

"But it is the law," Hamilton said.

According to the latest campaign finance reports, filed April 30, Hamilton has raised more than twice as much as Sisson. The sheriff reported $20,200 from contributors, to Sisson's $8,926.

Hamilton, the county's first black sheriff, worked in the county jail and as a deputy sheriff before taking over the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's enforcement division in 1994.

Hamilton claims several successes over his past two terms. He said he has improved relations between the office's administration and the deputies' unions, which have endorsed him for re-election. He also said he has improved working conditions for deputies, instituted successful services such as education programs for jail inmates, added a range for firearm training, and created a garden at the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle, tended by inmates, that supplies food to the facility.

Immigration central issue in Democratic primary for Travis sheriff

Governor Martinez Bashing Enforcement take action here:

http://www.alipac.us/f8/warning-nm-g...2/#post1280329