Thread: NJ: Ethnic media blasts 287(g) as too costly

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.htm

Wrong Arm of the Law

Fed Program Turns Local Cops into ICE

New America Media, News Report, Marcelo Ballvé, Posted: Mar 03, 2009 Review it on NewsTrust

NEW YORK -- In 2007, the mayor of Morristown, New Jersey tried to enroll local police officers in a federal program that delegates immigration enforcement duties to local and state police.

Dozens of law enforcement agencies nationwide already had joined the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program. Called 287(g) for a section of the 1996 immigration law that created it, the program is touted as a partnership between federal and local law enforcement to crack down on dangerous transnational crimes, like drug trafficking and human smuggling.

Mayor Donald Cresitello hoped 287(g) would help educate his police force about immigration and enhance cooperation with federal authorities. But, his initiative quickly ran into stiff resistance over financing and civil rights, reflecting the growing controversy over 287(g). More than 60 jurisdictions in some 20 states participate.

The program’s most notorious proponent is Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., which has the largest 287(g) program in the country. On Feb. 4, Arpaio was widely condemned by rights groups and the Mexican government after he led chained immigration detainees on a public march to "Tent City," an incarceration compound he created. Last month, several congressmen demanded a federal investigation into Arpaio's activities as possible racial profiling of Latinos.

Morris County is not Maricopa County, but its Latino population is significant at 11 percent in a suburb that is mostly white. Cresitello, who was elected in 2005, made illegal immigration one of his signature issues. He denies he is an immigration hardliner, but says he favors strong borders and federal legislation to provide, not a blanket amnesty, but a path to citizenship for the country's 12 million undocumented immigrants-- if they are willing to go through the proper channels.

Morristown doesn’t have a jail in which to house detainees before ICE takes custody of them, so Cresitello asked Morris County authorities for space at their correctional facility. County Sheriff Edward V. Rochford wrote an 18-page memo that said the 287(g) program would likely cost the county $1.3 million in infrastructure, staffing extra guards and ancillary costs, not to mention exposure to lawsuits.

"It is important to note that ... ICE would not reimburse the county for any start up costs such as those mentioned," said the Oct. 19, 2007 memo, obtained by the New York-based nonprofit Justice Strategies and published on its Web site.

Once the program was up and running, federal reimbursements would cover about half the average daily cost of housing 287(g) detainees in the county facility, Rochford wrote. Also, ICE had failed to answer a raft of questions on the specifics of 287(g). "When push came to shove, and we asked questions, they just wouldn't respond to us," Rochford told New America Media. He also questioned the need for 287(g) since Morris County already routinely checks arrestees' immigration status and reports the results to ICE.

Immigrant rights activists in Morristown also had their concerns. They worried the program would lead to random sweeps, racial profiling and a climate of fear. In a phone interview, Cresitello disputed the program's critics. He said police don't always ask the immigration status of arrestees and disagreed that 287(g) would have been as expensive as Rochford claims.

Cresitello added that 287(g) is only intended to help detain foreign-born criminals and curtail organized crime and is not designed to justify street roundups. "I think people were missing the point of the program," he said. However, he acknowledged that illegal immigrants might be detained under 287(g) if they are stopped for a traffic violation.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Mike Keegan said he was not familiar with the Morris County application but confirmed that ICE did not cover increased staffing costs associated with 287(g) detainees. It does pay for training, he said, some tech-related costs, and about $100 per day for inmate detention.

In the end, Morristown signed the 287(g) agreement late last year and planned to house detainees in facilities outside the county. However, according to Cresitello, ICE has held up the agreement's implementation as it considers making changes to it.

New Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered a broad review of immigration enforcement policies, including 287(g). A report released last week by Justice Strategies offers arguments for eliminating the program. One is that it imposes a fiscal burden on recession-battered local and state taxpayers by making their law enforcement agencies do federal immigration enforcement work.

Also, as police and sheriff departments move to identify and arrest undocumented immigrants, which 287(g) empowers them to do, the trust between local law enforcement and immigrant communities suffers. "A big red flag went up for us when 287(g) sprung to life," said Judith Greene, a report co-author. The program had been dormant until it was revived under Pres. George W. Bush. Homeland Security spokesman Keegan said he could not comment on the report’s findings but that the department took allegations of civil rights violations "very seriously."

Though the program has been running since 2003, ICE documents show that 55 of the more than 60 active partnership agreements were signed in 2008 or 2007. That's when Morristown, N.J., submitted its bid, although 287(g) has been embraced mostly in the West and South. In the Northeast, only Hudson City, N.H., has an agreement, according to ICE's latest tally.

In many jurisdictions, the hidden costs and other downsides to 287(g) are not understood or are ignored by elected officials seeking to reap political dividends from appearing tough on immigration, said Aarti Shahani, the report's other author.

Shahani noted that just over 60 percent of 287(g) agreements have been signed by elected officials who, in several notorious cases, have gained political capital crusading against illegal immigration. Besides its other problems, the program mixes immigration law, which like tax law is civil, with criminal law, Shahani said, which is like the "IRS one day deputizing traffic police to check 1040s."

Related Articles:

U.S. Immigration Policies Bring Global Shame on Us

Supreme Court Hears Identity Theft Case, ICE Conducts First Raid Under Obama

Faith Leaders Shape Local Immigration Debates





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User Comments

Dave on Mar 04, 2009 at 04:00:47 said:

Not a crock. The cost of detaining and deporting even just an incremental part of the undocumented population at a time is too much, not to mention the human cost. Plus, the job vacancies created do not translate into jobs for Americans, because Americans don\'t want to do those jobs, even if paid more.

Stephen on Mar 03, 2009 at 18:51:07 said:

What a crock! Where do you guys come up with this stuff? I can tell the pro amnesty lobby is out in full force. Don't fall for the propaganda. We are in a full recession. Americans are being displaced by illegal aliens. We can create over 7 million jobs without much cost, other than deporting illegal aliens. When is this going to stop? ILLEGAL ALIENS GO HOME!

It is obvious Rochford is only thinking about the costs that would be incurred by his department not the costs currently incurred by the County as a whole.

Morristown police may aid in arresting illegals
Thursday, March 5, 2009
BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE
Herald News
STAFF WRITER
The mayor of Morristown said Wednesday that he has signed an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security that would pave the way for deputizing the town’s police officers as immigration agents.

But while the step is significant, Mayor Donald Cresitello added that it is not yet a done deal.

Cresitello, whose proposal to implement the federal program, known as 287G, sparked protests by immigration advocacy groups from around the state two years ago, said Homeland Security plans to send him a modified agreement.

The mayor also said he plans to present the final, amended agreement to the Town Council for its approval.

“I don’t know what modifications they are making,â€

Jean: Excellent....what perfect timing of that report....I wonder what the NAM will have to say about that? Too bad, so sad.

SOROS-LINKED JUSTICE STRATEGIES calls 287g program a "failure" (Joe Arpaio)

Daniel Gonzalez of the Arizona Republic offers "Report: ICE program used by Arpaio a failure" (link):
http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwa ... eport.html

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's continuing and controversial crackdown on illegal immigration and the federal program that lets him identify and arrest undocumented immigrants is a financial and public-safety failure, according to a new report.

The program, known as 287 (g), has been touted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a public-safety measure aimed at removing criminal illegal immigrants. But the Sheriff's Office and other participating agencies have focused on easy targets such as traffic violators and day laborers who pose little threat, says the report by Justice Strategies, a non-profit nonpartisan research group based in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Justice Strategies is a New York-based nonprofit research group that focuses on humane and cost-effective approaches to criminal justice and immigration law enforcement.

And, they're so nice he had to name them twice. Now, let's take a look at the two people listed on their about page (justicestrategies.org/staff):

Judith Greene is a criminal justice policy analyst whose essays and articles on criminal sentencing issues, police practices, and correctional policy have been published in numerous books, as well as in national and international policy journals. She has received a Soros Senior Justice Fellowship from the Open Society Institute, served as a research associate for the RAND Corporation, as a senior research fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School, and as director of the State-Centered Program for the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. From 1985 to 1993 she was Director of Court Programs at the Vera Institute of Justice.

Kevin Pranis is a criminal justice policy analyst and campaign strategist. A past Soros Justice Fellow, Mr. Pranis has produced educational materials, training manuals, reports and white papers on topics that include corporate accountability, municipal bond finance, political education, prison privatization, and sentencing policy. Mr. Pranis' work has been covered in numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

[There are other internal links which can be accessed at the source.]
http://24ahead.com/soros-linked-justice ... -failure-j