Editorial: State immigration bill flawed, unnecessary
Posted June 13, 2010 at midnight

Last week Loudon County authorities released four suspected illegal immigrants they detained after it was determined that no state charges could be leveled against them and federal officials showed no interest.

As District Attorney General Russell Johnson noted, "State and local agencies have no authority or ability to deport illegal aliens, so they were released."

At the same time, the state Legislature was moving forward with a bill that would authorize Tennessee county jailers to determine the immigration status of their inmates. It's now headed to Gov. Phil Bredesen's desk for his signature.

The bill, however, is similar to an existing federal program the Knox County Sheriff's Office has joined. It also contains a serious flaw that could expose local law enforcement officers to charges of racial profiling.

The sheriff's office is the first law enforcement agency in Tennessee to become a member of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Secure Communities program.

As a member, the sheriff's office will send the fingerprints of all suspects incarcerated in its facilities to the ICE. The program targets high-priority, violent foreign nationals.

A key component of the program is that information is shared about all suspects, regardless of suspicions of their immigration status. Information on a sixth-generation Tennessean will be sent along with information on a foreign national whose immigration status is unknown.

It would be up to the ICE, not the sheriff's office, to determine whether a suspect is here legally or not.

A provision of the bill passed by the Legislature, however, calls for the sharing of information "if the keeper of the jail determines that the individual is in violation of the Immigration and Naturalization Act … or if such status cannot be determined."

In other words, it would be up to the jailer to decide whether to turn over information. Racial and ethnic profiling - intentional or not - would be a constant risk.

The bill is also unnecessary. Another federal program the Knox County Sheriff's Office has joined makes the agency a partner with ICE. The 287(g) program, named after a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, authorizes participating agencies to have local officers trained as immigration officers with full authority to enforce federal immigration laws. ICE officers would supervise them when they exercise their immigration authority.

The ICE program is far superior to the bill currently headed toward the governor's desk. The bill calls for the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to come up with the processes jailers are to follow when determining immigration status. In the 287 (g) program, ICE provides training programs for local officers. The ICE Academy sets standards and testing, and only certified instructors conduct the training.

Bredesen should veto the bill now before him and encourage local agencies to follow Knox County's lead in working with the federal government on immigration enforcement.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jun/1 ... necessary/