Report Highlights Problems Surrounding Local Immigration Enforcement
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General today released a report that confirms the problems surrounding the controversial 287(g) program, which gives state and local law enforcement agencies authority to enforce immigration laws.
Among its observations, the OIG found that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Local Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) had not met all of the requirements of the program, such as meeting regularly with steering committees to review the program’s assessment and adequately training its officers. Perhaps the most troubling observation of the report is that while the 287(g) program was developed to target dangerous, criminal illegal immigrants, LEAs are targeting those who have been arrested for minor offenses, if any:
“„With no specific target levels for arrest, detention, and removal priority levels, and with performance measures that do not account for all investigative work and criminal prosecutions, ICE cannot be assured that the 287(g) program is meeting its intended purpose, or that resources are being appropriately targeted toward aliens who pose the greatest risk to public safety and the community.
Despite these concerns, which have been previously cited by civil rights groups, the 287(g) program has recently expanded. As of June 2009, the Department of Homeland Security had 66 active 287(g) agreements with state and local LEAs in 23 states. According to ICE’s Web site, more than 70,000 individuals, mostly in jails, who were suspected of being in the country illegally were identified by the program. And the program continues to gain momentum. Funding for the program increased from $5 billion in 2006 to $68 billion in 2010.
What today’s report completely assures critics of the program, and critics of enforcement-only immigration laws, is that they were right: ICE *isn’t *focusing on criminals despite what DHS or ICE officials say. The National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group, released a press release today that said the program is “beyond repair and should be terminated.”
“„Today’s Inspector General’s report on ICE’s 287(g) program confirms our worst suspicions about this program…
“„The 287(g) program strikes at the heart of the ability of local police to gain the trust of immigrant populations in their communities. Law enforcement officers know that to be effective at crime control, they must have public support. Since its implementation, we have seen rogue agencies use the program to carry out an anti-immigrant agenda, terrorizing immigrant communities, resulting in dozens of allegations of racial profiling and civil rights abuses.
“„The Inspector General’s report shows that ICE is a very long way from being able to get this program under control. It should be abandoned.
To DHS’ credit, the OIG report does provide a long list of recommendations to improve the program, including ways to implement better oversight, training of officers and availability of 287(g) program information and records.
