Thread: Deportations an Issue in Texas Sheriff’s Race

Deportations an Issue in Texas Sheriff’s Race

AUSTIN, Texas – The federal government’s Secure Communities program, which expedites the deportation of undocumented immigrants under police custody, has become an issue in the sheriff’s race here in Travis County, Texas.

According to John Sisson, a former Austin Police Department lieutenant who is challenging incumbent Sheriff Greg Hamilton in the Democratic primary, the way S-COMM is now being run has a negative impact on Hispanic immigrants.

“What is happening is inhumane. No one in Austin and its suburbs can drive a car for fear of being jailed and deported for a simple traffic violation,” the retired cop said in an interview with Efe.

But Hamilton, who aspires to a third term, said in a statement to the press that his job as far as immigration matters are concerned has been to follow existing regulations and hand over detainees to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The only one that can deport and put an immigration detainer on an individual is an ICE agent, not us,” the sheriff 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 hold that individual for 48 hours.”

But Sisson says that Travis County’s high volume of arrests resulting in deportation ought to be investigated as soon as possible.

According to figures provided by ICE, from June 2009 to September 2011, Travis County fingerprinted 80,731 individuals, of whom 2,269 immigrants were deported.

Of that number, more than 900 foreigners were classified as Level 3, convicted for a traffic offense or a misdemeanor.

For Thomas Esparza Jr., an attorney specializing in immigration law, there are several elements that place Hamilton in an uncomfortable position regarding the enforcement of S-COMM, such as its basic promise to pursue only criminals accused of major crimes.

“Secure Communities is a good program, but only when you use it to punish those who don’t deserve to be in this country because of their criminal record. But the numbers of those detained and deported for minor infractions do not help Hamilton, rather they work against him,” Esparza told Efe.

“And the other fact against him is that in Bexar County (including San Antonio), where there are more Hispanics than in Travis, there have been fewer, far fewer deportations of undocumented immigrants for minor infractions,” the attorney said.

In Bexar, where 58 percent of the 1.75 million residents are Latino, more than 105,000 individuals were fingerprinted and only 1,479 immigrants were deported between 2009 and 2011.

Just over 33.5 percent of Travis County’s 1.02 million people are of Hispanic origin.

S-COMM is being enforced in 2,730 – around 86 percent – of U.S. counties.

The winner of the May 29 primary between Hamilton and Sisson will face Republican Raymond Frank, who was Travis County sheriff from 1973-1980, in November. EFE

Latin American Herald Tribune - Deportations an Issue in Texas Sheriff’s Race

In Heart of Texas, Sheriff Takes Heat for Honoring Immigration Detainers

Published at 11:50 am EST, May 12, 2012

A local election in Travis County, Texas, is bringing to light important questions surrounding the controversial Secure Communities program. As recently reported by the Texas Tribune, Democratic primary challenger John Sisson has criticized incumbent Sheriff Greg Hamilton for honoring federal immigration “detainers”—the lynchpin of Secure Communities—because of their harm to immigrant communities. While Hamilton has said he is bound by federal law, contrary policies in jurisdictions around the country show the sheriff is either misinformed or confused.

Immigration detainers are official requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asking law enforcement agencies to detain immigrants for 48 business hours after they would otherwise be released so that ICE can take custody. As we have previously explained, detainers are requests, not commands, meaning that local law enforcement agencies do not have to honor them. Yet by Sheriff Hamilton’s own admission, he honors every detainer he receives. “At the Travis County jail,” he said, “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.”

In truth, federal law does not require law enforcement agencies to hold individuals for 48 hours; instead, it requires them to release the subject of a detainer if ICE fails to assume custody within 48 hours. In fact, numerous jurisdictions around the country—including San Francisco, Cook County, Ill., and the state of Connecticut—have announced policies in the past year prescribing conditions that must be met for detainers to be honored (such as being convicted of a serious or violent crime).ICE itself is partially to blame for Sheriff Hamilton’s confusion. Agency spokespersons frequently say they expect local law enforcement agencies to honor detainers but fail to mention that they are under no legal obligation to do so. In addition, ICE issued a new detainer form (Form I-247) last year clarifying that detainers expire after 48 hours, but suggesting that law enforcement agencies were required to honor them in the first place.

Aside from problems with detainers, there is larger cause to be concerned about Secure Communities, or “S-Comm.” Although the program was intended to target serious criminals, it has resulted in the deportation of many immigrants with minor or no criminal record. Nationwide, 26% of those deported through the program in FY 2011 had no criminal convictions. In Travis County, more than 60% of the 2,269 immigrants deported between June 2009 and September 2011 were “Level 3” (the lowest priority level) offenders or had only immigration violations. By contrast, less than 40% had Level 1 or Level 2 criminal convictions. These figures are consistent with trends documented in a report released in 2010 finding that in 2008, nearly 60 percent of detainers in Travis County were placed on those charged with misdemeanors—up from 38 percent in 2007 and 34 percent in 2006.

The number of deportations from Travis County also exceeded that of nearby Bexar County, which includes San Antonio and has a larger overall population. The numbers have raised concerns that local law enforcement officers are arresting suspected immigrants on minor charges specifically to determine through Secure Communities whether they are in the country illegally. For this very reason, opponents of the program have argued that the program creates obstacles to community policing and can lead to racial/ethnic profiling and pretextual arrests.

Sisson and Sheriff Hamilton will face off in the Democratic primary on May 29. In an interesting twist, the winner will face former Sheriff Raymond Frank, a Republican, who has stated he would not honor immigration detainers because they separate families.

In Texas, Sheriff Takes Heat for Honoring Immigration Detainers - Hispanically Speaking News