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Wrong Arm of the Law
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.
Cresitello, who was elected in 2005, made illegal immigration
one of his signature issues.
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. 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.
Immigrant rights activists in
Morristown worried
the program would lead to random sweeps, racial profiling and a
climate of fear.
Department of Homeland Security spokesman Mike Keegan said he
was not familiar with the
Morris County
application.
In the end,
Morristown signed
the 287(g) agreement late last year and planned to house detainees
in facilities outside the county. 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.
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.
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. Besides its other problems, the program
mixes immigration law, which like tax law is civil, with criminal
law.
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March 2009
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