Blackburn knocks Homeland immigration enforcement effort
By Bartholomew Sullivan (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Friday, August 1, 2008

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has written a letter to House appropriations and homeland security committee members critical of efforts she says will weaken Department of Homeland Security abilities to partner with local police in enforcing immigration laws.


The letter, dated today and signed by Blackburn and 48 other House members, asks that language be dropped from a draft spending bill that prohibits spending on agreements with local law enforcement agencies that have not been reviewed to assure they "maximize the identification of aliens who are unlawfully present in the U.S. and have been convicted of dangerous crimes."

The law establishing the federal-local partnerships is referred to as Sec. 287(g). There are 55 such agreements in place and another 80 applications pending across the country. The program in Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County has resulted in the deportation of roughly 3,000 illegal immigrants, Blackburn noted. Memphis and Shelby County do not have 287(g) agreements.

"Tennessee's implementation of the 287(g) program is a success story, and proves that partnerships between local law enforcement organizations and the federal government work," Blackburn said in a statement Thursday.

"This successful track record contrasts with the federal bureaucracy, which has historically proved unwilling or unable to enforce immigration law. My colleagues and I believe Congress should support, and not cut the legs out from underneath, a program that is working to deport criminal illegal aliens from the U.S.," she added.

But in Memphis, immigration lawyers said the program is neither universally popular nor always humanely implemented.

"I think it's a myth that most law enforcement officials want their communities to pass 287(g) laws," said immigration lawyer Greg Siskind. "In the communities that have these laws, they typically have been used to target people for relatively innocuous offenses like jaywalking and speeding tickets and have no impact in reducing the crime rate. Actually, they probably have the opposite effect -- immigrants become afraid of any interaction with the police and ... fail to report crimes."


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