Nov. 7, 2007 – 7:30 p.m.
State, Local Police Slowly Warming to Immigration Enforcement
By Eleanor Stables, CQ Staff
State and local law enforcement agencies have shown increased interest over the past year in a program to train officers to enforce federal immigration law, and Congress will soon decide whether to fund further growth of the program.

Greater interest in the program worries some of its critics, who say involving local police in immigration enforcement leads to less cooperation from immigrants and heightens the risk of racial profiling.

A total of 597 officers in 34 state and local law enforcement agencies participate in what is known as the 287(g) program, named for the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (PL 101-649) authorizing it.

Of those 34, 26 joined up in fiscal 2007. They’re spread across 15 states. The program was authorized in 1996, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was the first to sign on in 2002.

Eighty more state and local law enforcement agencies are seeking to join the program, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Michael Gilhooly said in an interview, although not all are likely to end up in the program.

With Congress having failed twice in two years to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, states and localities have begun looking for ways to deal with the problem of illegal immigration themselves, and advocates of a tougher stance applaud the move.

Center for Immigration Studies senior policy analyst Jessica Vaughan says the 287(g) program has “already shown phenomenal resultsâ€