Still waiting for ‘change’ under Obama

The Department of Homeland Security announced last Friday which localities have signed new Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) delegating immigration enforcement responsibilities to local law enforcement authorities. Not surprisingly, this announcement has been met with condemnation from immigrant and civil rights groups alike, and for good reason. The program, dubbed 287(g) after the section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act creating it, has a history of mismanagement by ICE and of major civil rights abuses and racial profiling.

DHS claims that the new MOAs will cure the major deficiencies identified in governmental and non-governmental reports. But nothing in the agreements will stop the police from engaging in profiling and arresting people who look or sound foreign so their immigration status can be checked. DHS apparently fears that putting strict requirements in the MOAs would discourage localities from signing on. And nothing in the agreements will compel a focus only on immigrants convicted of serious criminal violations or impose real consequences for localities where it turns out that the main targets are accused traffic offenders.

It is particularly surprising that DHS continues to support Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio – currently under investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice – by extending his 287(g) authority in the Maricopa County Jail. DHS proudly claims it is reining him in by denying him immigration authority on the street – the “task force” model that he also had before. But Arpaio has repeatedly said that he will keep doing the street sweeps he is infamous for. And all he has to do now is get non-citizens (and sometimes citizens) to his jail where immigration status can be checked.

287(g) is just one component of the Obama administration’s effort to use the state criminal justice system to channel immigrants into the immigration enforcement system – regardless of guilt or innocence or the severity of charges or eligibility for immigration relief. These enforcement programs, which include “Secure Communities” and the Criminal Alien Program (CAP), are set to grow: Congress is allocating a staggering $200 million for Secure Communities alone. All the programs utilize law enforcement resources (often without supplementing local funding) to determine a person’s legal status either at local jails or during arrests.

These programs give the appearance that ICE is tough on enforcement and is deporting “criminal aliens,” a term which suggests conviction of serious crimes. But the proof is in the statistical pudding: as of March 22, 2009, 19,495 individuals were identified as undocumented through the Secure Communities program. Of these, only 1,436 were identified as “Level 1 criminals.” The rest were arrested for lesser crimes, which include minor traffic offenses like driving without a license.

Some localities have refused to sign the new MOAs or are still holding out. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department describes the burden of enforcing immigration law that the new MOA would impose as “breathtaking.” Many police departments and law enforcement organizations continue to oppose taking on these responsibilities because they undermine community safety and divert police resources that would be better served protecting the community. When immigrant communities learn that these programs are being routinely abused to go after those without status, they will inevitably become more reluctant to come forward to law enforcement officials as victims of or witnesses to crime.

President Obama didn’t create the broken immigration system, but what we need are real solutions to fix that system, not an outsourcing of federal immigration responsibilities to local law enforcement.