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287(g) Vital to Immigration Reform |
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by Mickey McCarter
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Thursday, 12 November 2009 |
Ex-chief of ICE calls for more flexiblity to enforce law
The success of any plan to enact comprehensive immigration reform will depend on strengthening the law permitting federal authorities to deputize local police to detain illegal immigrants for deportation, the last head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told HSToday.us.
As Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano prepares to make a major speech on immigration reform in Washington, DC, Friday, former ICE chief Julie Myers Wood pointed out that the agency's Section 287(g) program will be a vital part of enforcing immigration laws to prevent fraud under the program and to keep ineligible criminal aliens from gaining any benefits from it.
"After there is some sort of amnesty or path to citizenship, how is it that law enforcement is able to enforce going forward? Absent 287(g), how are you able to do that very successfully? I don't think you can. So I think you absolutely need it. It's just as critical right now though," Myers Wood commented.
Myers Wood, however, expects challenges to the program during the congressional debate on comprehensive immigration reform, expected to occur next year. Many groups who support a path to legalization for the estimated 12 million or so illegal immigrants currently in the United States also generally oppose the 287(g) program, criticizing it as an infringement on civil rights, a means to encourage racial profiling, or an unjust expansion of government power.
But Myers Wood and other advocates of the program, enacted as a section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (Public Law 104-208) in 1996, view it as a vital tool in identifying and deporting criminal aliens.
"ICE has a tough time with the 287(g) program," Myers Wood acknowledged. "They are criticized from all sides no matter what they do. They are criticized for keeping the program going; they are criticized for not expanding it enough. So they are trying to walk a fine line in expanding the program but doing in a smart way.
"What remains to be seen is whether or not the changes they are making is doing it in a smart way or whether it is incorrectly restricting what sheriffs need most," she added.
Federal efforts to standardize the memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between ICE and local law enforcement agencies in the past few months may make sense from the perspective of federal officials, who would like a uniform understanding of what the agreements entail, but it may hurt state and local police who require some flexibility in carrying out the law, Myers Wood asserted.
Myers Wood cited studies from the Center for Immigration Studies that point out a lack of flexibility in enforcing 287(g) that restricts local authorities from addressing local problems. Specific parts of the country may face issues concerning particular crimes, she noted. The state of North Carolina, for example, has confronted an increased number of cases of drunk driving where the offenders were illegal aliens in the past few years.
"At times it is frustrating if ICE is saying that is not a significant crime if the community feels that is a significant crime. That's where part of the tension is for these MOUs. What counts as a crime where ICE would allow authorities to detain somebody and hold them for deportation?" Myers Wood questioned.
The federal government has limited resources--not enough money and too few beds--to detain every illegal alien who commits every crime--but local sheriffs should have the flexibility to identify and address the significant problems in their communities, Myers Wood stated.
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Mickey McCarter |
| About the author: |
| eNewsletter Editor/Senior Washington Correspondent,
is a journalist with more than a decade of experience in reporting
on
military affairs and information technology.
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