March 6, 2009

Commentary:

Increase in Latino federal prison population reveals flaws in immigration policy

By Justin Akers Chacon

Our immigration laws are out of whack. And they are clogging our federal prisons with nonviolent folks who are guilty of nothing more than living, working and raising families here without proper documentation.

A Pew Hispanic Center study released in mid-February documents how Latinos now make up 40 percent of the estimated 200,000 prisoners in federal penitentiaries, triple their share of the total U.S. adult population and disproportionate to their representation in state and local jails (19 percent and 16 percent, respectively).

Nearly half of the Latino population in federal prisons are immigrants, with 81 percent sentenced for entering or residing in the nation without authorization.

We are now incarcerating tens of thousands of immigrants without criminal records or fugitive status. They don’t pose a threat to the community, and they shouldn’t be behind bars.

But they are languishing there because of a policy shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is increasingly targeting immigrants.

According to its Web site, ICE “protects national security and upholds public safety by targeting criminal networks and terrorist organizations that seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our immigration system, in our financial networks, along our border, at federal facilities and elsewhere in order to do harm to the United States.â€