Officials call for money to enforce immigration laws
Officials call for money to enforce immigration laws
By Karn Dhingra
Oct. 25, 2016 at 11:06 p.m.
Updated Oct. 26, 2016 at 6 a.m.
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, and Victoria County Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor want more federal funds for programs that help local law enforcement enforce immigration laws.
According to a press release issued by Farenthold's office, the Department of Homeland Security's 287(g) program received an appropriation of $68 million from 2010- 2013. The program's funding has declined to $24 million in the most recent four years.
The 287(g) program deputizes state and local enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws in their jurisdictions. The program has been criticized by civil libertarians, government and immigration reform groups for several reasons, including racial profiling, draining municipal coffers and diverting law enforcement resources from community policing.
Farenthold said Crossroads' sheriffs and police chiefs need the program to be better funded to increase their agencies' abilities to work with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement more effectively.
Farenthold gave examples of how increased federal funding could help Crossroads' law enforcement agencies. He said agencies could get funds for training personnel to handle federal records and law enforcement databases and to enhance their abilities to process more undocumented criminal immigrants.
O'Connor said an aspect of another Department of Homeland Security program, the Priority Enforcement Program, concerned him. This program allows the federal department to take custody of individuals from state and local law enforcement agencies who are detained for being involved in organized crime or pose a threat to national security.
In the past, the program allowed local law enforcement agencies to detain undocumented immigrants for 48 hours before releasing them.
O'Connor said the federal government was unleashing an element of "criminality" into Victoria County by discontinuing the policy of allowing a 48-hour hold on undocumented immigrants.
O'Connor also said the federal government needs to provide more funds to his office to stop the flow of drugs, organized criminal activity, sex-worker and slave-labor-trafficked people through "the fatal funnel" of Victoria County.
Farenthold and O'Connor, both Republican incumbents, are seeking re-election in November.
Mike Henry, a Democrat and former Victoria County Sheriff's deputy challenging O'Connor, said the idea behind the 287(g) program and other initiatives that deputize local agencies to enforce federal laws are good in theory.
"The officers like them because they provide extra pay for extra patrols," Henry said. "As for effectiveness, a lot of the times the money from the programs are not used for what they are intended for."
Raul Barrera, Farenthold's Democratic challenger was unable to be reached Tuesday.
Before the press conference Tuesday, Farenthold had a private roundtable discussion with officials from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to discuss the Priority Enforcement Program, human trafficking, illegal immigration, border security and interagency communication.
https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/new...-to-enforce-i/
