Immigration Enforcement Program takes Heavy Toll on Hispanics

WASHINGTON & SANTA FE, NM (By Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post) January 31, 2011 ― A controversial program that deputizes local police officers to enforce immigration laws sent the Hispanic population plummeting in many places across the country, including Prince William and Frederick counties, according to a new report released Monday by the Migration Policy Institute.

In some cases, the initial decrease was dramatic, with Frederick County losing 61 percent of its Hispanic population between 2007 and 2009, and Prince William County losing almost 21 percent in the same period, according to the report, which relied on census data and school enrollment figures. The Hispanic populations have since rebounded but not to their previous levels.

The study by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute focused on seven places ― including Prince William and Frederick ― that have adopted the federal 287 (g) program, which is in use by at least 68 state and local law enforcement agencies.

Under the program, local police are trained to determine the immigration status of people they arrest and flag those found to be in the country illegally to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Once illegal immigrants are transferred to ICE custody, the government decides whether to begin deportation proceedings.

Although ICE has said it prioritizes the deportation of people with serious criminal backgrounds, some of the jurisdictions participating in the program seek to remove as many undocumented immigrants as possible, regardless of criminal background, the study found.

Frederick County was among them, the policy institute found. In fiscal 2010, Frederick detained 198 undocumented immigrants through the 287 (g) program, and 120 were traffic offenders, the study found.

 

Prince William County was more targeted in its approach than Frederick, the study found. It detained 846 illegal immigrants in 2010, including 237 traffic offenders. In Loudoun, 12 of the 47 people detained had committed a traffic offense.

In both Frederick and Prince William counties, fewer than 10 percent of those detained were arrested for the most serious, Level 1 crimes, which include murder, rape and armed robbery. By contrast, more than 50 percent of illegal immigrants detained in Las Vegas were arrested for the most serious serious crimes.

"The wide variation reflected in our study suggests state and local actors, rather than ICE, are significantly defining the program's enforcement priorities," said the report, which based its findings on ICE data and interviews conducted in the seven jurisdictions.

Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins denied that the county is trying to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible but added that even undocumented traffic violators are potential threats.

"How do you say that a serious Level 1 offender is more dangerous than an immigrant who's out driving a car illegally who could potentially hit someone and kill them?" Jenkins said, noting that those arrested are "in the country illegally to start with, and beyond that they've committed a crime. How many free passes do you give someone?"

The policy institute report argues that targeting serious criminals makes more sense as an enforcement strategy, particularly when government resources are limited.

Pursuing unauthorized immigrants who haven't committed serious crimes "takes away resources to go after what everybody believes are the high ― priority criminals," said Marc Rosenblum, a senior policy analyst at MPI and one of the report's authors. "You can't have them be a top priority and then have the waitress or the gardener who's never broken a law except to be here illegally, you can't have them both be the top priority. When these state and local enforcement agencies fill up the detention centers and jails with low ― priority cases ... it compromises ICE's ability to do high ― priority enforcement."

It also sows fear and distrust between local immigrant communities and the police, the report said.

Immigration advocates have long decried the 287 (g) program, arguing that it leads to racial profiling and destroys the relationship between police and immigrant communities.

Because of the controversy surrounding it, the program's growth has stalled. Another enforcement program, Secure Communities, has largely replaced it at the local level, though Secure Communities has come under attack for some of the same reasons.

Nationally, 686 jurisdictions in 33 states participate in Secure Communities, including several jurisdictions in Northern Virginia and Maryland, and in the District. It has come under attack in some places, including Arlington County and the District, where local officials worry that it is discouraging undocumented immigrants from coming forward to report crimes.

ICE has said it plans to expand the program to all 50 states by 2013.

Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and a strong supporter of both enforcement programs, said he believes allowing jurisdictions to apply the 287 (g) program differently is a positive thing, especially given the differences in concentrations of immigrants in different areas.

"I would say that's a plus," he said. "I think it's an example of localities and states being the great laboratories for policy development."