Posted: 4:09 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21, 2012

Feds might scrap state, local immigration enforcement program

By Jeremy Redmon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This month, the ACLU and 161 other civil and immigrant rights groups and other organizations sent a letter to the Obama administration calling for the end of all 287(g) programs. The letter highlighted how the government shut down 287(g) operations last year in Maricopa County, Ariz., after the Justice Department said it found evidence of discriminatory policing practices there, including illegal arrests of Hispanics. (The Justice Department took a similar action Thursday, filing a civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff of Alamance County, N.C., alleging his office discriminated against Hispanics through its 287(g) program. The government shut that county’s program down this year.)

The Obama administration is expected to announce by the end of this month whether it is scrapping any of the controversial immigration enforcement programs it has operating in Georgia and across the nation.

The 287(g) programs — named after the federal law that authorizes them — deputize local and state law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws. For example, sheriff’s deputies may be given the power to question people about their legal status and detain and transport them for immigration violations.

The programs started in 2002 during the Bush administration. As of October, there were 57 operating in Georgia and 20 other states. The Georgia State Patrol and the jails in Cobb, Gwinnett, Hall and Whitfield counties are participating. Since fiscal year 2006, 16,287 people have been deported or allowed to voluntarily leave the country in connection with Georgia’s programs, federal records show.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil and immigrant rights groups are calling on the government to shut down 287(g). They say it promotes racial profiling, erodes the trust immigrants have in police and distracts officers from more important crime-fighting duties.

Georgia sheriffs say 287(g) has reduced the strain illegal immigrants are placing on taxpayer-funded resources in their communities, such as public schools. They want the program to continue. A spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal also repeated the governor’s support for it this week.

Still, the Obama administration is proposing to cut a quarter of its $68 million budget for 287(g) operations nationwide and eliminate the least productive ones — in part because of the national rollout of a different program called Secure Communities that relies on fingerprint screening. The government says Secure Communities “is more consistent, efficient and cost-effective in identifying and removing” criminal illegal immigrants.

These deliberations are under way as a newly re-elected President Barack Obama is vowing to tackle a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws next year. Among other things, he is proposing a pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States.

The Obama administration initially said it was focusing on phasing out the 287(g) programs that police — such as the Georgia State Patrol — operate in the field. But they have prompted some speculation they are preparing to also scrap the programs operating in jails in Georgia and elsewhere.

The speculation started this fall when the government notified sheriffs across the nation that it was extending their expiring 287(g) agreements just until the end of this year. Those agreements typically last three years. The government said it will later inform sheriffs how their programs will be “impacted.” Officials with the White House, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment further this week.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officials with the state and Cobb County are processing far fewer people for removal — or deportation — through their programs. The Georgia Department of Public Safety, for example, has not processed anyone for deportation since before October of last year, according to federal statistics as of Oct. 8 of this year. The Georgia State Patrol has previously pointed to “manpower issues” and the long distances officers would have to travel to transport suspected illegal immigrants to federal immigration detention centers in the state.

Lt. Kermit Stokes of the Georgia State Patrol, who helps coordinate the state’s 287(g) program, said that the duties associated with the program are in addition to a state trooper’s other duties.

“This authority is a tool that these few troopers can use when needed,” Stokes said. “We do not dictate that they must use this authority if other means to effectively enforce the law are available.”

In Cobb’s jail, the number of people processed for deportation has steadily declined in each of the past three years. The high reached 3,747 in fiscal year 2008. Last year, it was 1,283. Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren said the decline shows the program is working.

“There has been a steady decline in the number of foreign nationals coming into jail custody charged with violating the law,” he said in an email. “This is exactly what was expected and is a clear indication of the success of the program.”

This month, the ACLU and 161 other civil and immigrant rights groups and other organizations sent a letter to the Obama administration calling for the end of all 287(g) programs. The letter highlighted how the government shut down 287(g) operations last year in Maricopa County, Ariz., after the Justice Department said it found evidence of discriminatory policing practices there, including illegal arrests of Hispanics. (The Justice Department took a similar action Thursday, filing a civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff of Alamance County, N.C., alleging his office discriminated against Hispanics through its 287(g) program. The government shut that county’s program down this year.)

“The 287(g) agreements interfere with state and local police responsibilities by recklessly merging federal immigration enforcement and state criminal justice tasks,” the letter said. “They have caused damage to community trust in police, increased racial profiling, and wasted precious law enforcement resources at all levels of government.”

Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, a research group that advocates tighter immigration controls, criticized the government’s move to cut 287(g) funding. She alleged politics is at play in the decision.

“This stems from their unwillingness to displease these very loud advocacy groups who complain repeatedly about the program,” said Vaughan, who has written extensively about 287(g), “even if there is no real basis for the complaints.”

287(g) programs
287(g) programs deputize local and state law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws. At the county level, the programs often operate through jails, giving sheriff’s deputies authority to question people about their legal status and detain and transport them for immigration violations. But the Georgia Department of Public Safety also runs a field program that can lead to deportations.

Processed for deportation/Deported or voluntarily departed:
Cobb 10,869/7,065
Gwinnett 8,801/5,055
Hall 3,969/2,632
Whitfield 2,444/1,519
Georgia Department of Public Safety 39/16

Deported or voluntarily departed through 287(g):
1. California 47,218
2. Arizona 42,782
3. North Carolina 18,448
4. Texas 16,617
5. Georgia 16,287
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/feds-might-scrap-state-local-immigration-enforceme/nTcw6/