D.C. Council bucking ICE's Secure Communities

washingtonexaminer.com
By: Liz Farmer | 11/15/11 6:35 PM
Examiner Staff Writer

The D.C. Council is pushing through a bill that would shorten the amount of time local police are authorized to hold illegal immigrants for the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement before letting them free.

The proposal by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson and backed by the entire council would limit the time police can hold someone on an ICE civil detainer to 24 hours, down from the federally recommended 48 hours. The legislation comes nearly one month after Mayor Vincent Gray issued his policy on working with ICE, which included the 48-hour recommendation.

Mendelson said Tuesday that cost was a key issue for the District -- roughly $128 per day is spent on each person held by the Department of Corrections.

"We're struggling right now, our jails are at capacity," he said, adding that the only extension of that would be if the District has "a written agreement that ICE would reimburse the costs."

The legislation applies only to nonviolent detainees.

Gray spokeswoman Doxie McCoy said the mayor supports the council's move to keep District money from going toward federal immigration enforcement.

When asked about the council shortening the length of time that police need to detain residents for ICE, McCoy said the mayor would "work with the council on the best scenario [for handling illegal immigrants] related to preserving public safety, immigrant rights and city resources."

The council and Gray have been outspoken about their opposition to the federal Secure Communities program that searches out illegal immigrants accused of a crime, saying it makes local law enforcement do the work of federal law enforcement.

However, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Paul Quander has said the program isn't "something you 'opt out' of" because D.C. is federally mandated to send fingerprints of those arrested for violent crimes to the FBI. Under Secure Communities, it is the job of the FBI and ICE to check the immigration status of those arrested and issue a detainer for them if necessary.

But Mendelson said Tuesday that limiting the detainer time is a way of bucking the program.

According to ICE's website, there is no law requiring individuals to be held for 48 hours; however the "longstanding guidance" is to not detain people "for more than 48 hours."

lfarmer@washingtonexaminer.com

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