Interior Enforcement
DHS Shuts Down 287(g) Agreement with Maricopa County Following DOJ Investigation, Restricts Secure Communities
Today, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano, announced that DHS will terminate its 287(g) agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and restrict access to the Secure Communities program, following damaging findings released by the Department of Justice (DOJ). After a three year long civil rights investigation into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO)—an office led by America’s “toughest sheriff” Joe Arpaio—the DOJ announced today that it had “reasonable cause” to believe the Sheriff’s Office has “engaged in a pattern or practice of misconduct that violates the Constitution and federal law.” Read More
House Subcommittee Hearing Underscores Problems with Secure Communities Program
Congressman Steve King (R-IA), Subcommittee on Immigration Policy & Enforcement. Today, the House Immigration Subcommittee held a hearing on the Secure Communities program (S-Comm)—an enforcement program that has been rife with controversy since its inception in 2008. Today’s hearing featured statements from a variety of witnesses and members of Congress which further underscored the problems inherent with the program and immigration enforcement in general. S-Comm is currently active in more than 1,700 jurisdictions and is on target to be nationwide by 2013. Read More
Secure Communities: A Fact Sheet
The Secure Communities Program, which launched in March 2008, has been held out as a simplified model for state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. This fact sheet lays out the basics of Secure Communities program, how it works, key areas of concern and recommendations on how to improve the program. Read More
The Secure Communities Program: Unanswered Questions and Continuing Concerns
This paper describes the Secure Communities program, identifies concerns about the program’s design and implementation, and makes recommendations for the future of the program. Read More
DHS Issues Awaited Guidance on Prioritizing Deportations, Law Enforcement Letter Praises Approach
Washington D.C. – Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Principal Legal Advisor directed all ICE attorneys to begin a systematic review of immigration cases to determine whether pursuing deportation in each case is consistent with the Administration’s enforcement priorities. This directive follows last summer’s announcement that the Department of Homeland… Read More
AILA-AIC Survey Reveals ICE Officials’ Sporadic Exercise of Prosecutorial Discretion
Washington, DC – The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American Immigration Council (AIC) released a new survey today finding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and attorneys across the country are applying different standards on prosecutorial discretion despite the issuance of national policy memoranda this summer. Read More
New Data Highlights Devastating Impact of Secure Communities on Immigrant and Latino Communities
New data on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) controversial Secure Communities reveals the program’s devastating impact on immigrants, Latinos and U.S. citizens. Released by the Warren Institute at Berkeley Law School, the report, “Secure Communities by the Numbers,” examines the profile of individuals who have been apprehended through the program and funneled through the system. The results are startling. Many communities, in fact, are questioning their level of cooperation with the government on certain aspects of this flawed enforcement program. Read More
Turning Off the Water: How the Contracting and Transaction Provisions in Alabama’s Immigration Law Make Life Harder
Turning Off the Water: How the Contracting and Transaction Provisions in Alabama's Immigration Law Make Life Harder For EveryoneBy Joan Friedland Since passage of HB 56, Alabama’s extreme new immigration law, many are aware of the most immediate consequences of the law—rotting tomatoes, racial profiling, and frightened school children. However, two provisions of the law that have the potential to be extremely damaging to the state’s economy, rule of law, and municipal functioning have received comparatively little attention. These two provisions have been in effect since September 30,, 2011, and are likely to result in an increase of exploitation of workers, erosion of fundamental legal protections, and denial of access to state and local government services and activities. In other words, these provisions will undoubtedly impact the daily lives of all Alabamians. Read More
Alabama Law Enforcement, Courts Implementing New Law in Different Ways Across State
As if things weren’t chaotic enough in Alabama, reports now find that law enforcement and courts vary widely on how they apply the state's new immigration law, creating different rules and consequences for individuals depending on a judge or officer’s understanding of the law. As the controversial law (HB 56) itself continues to change as it makes its way through the court system, many law enforcement officers are unclear about which provisions still stand and have yet to receive the training necessary to implement the law. Judges, too, are on different pages on how to interpret the law, meaning that an individual might receive a different ruling from one judge to the next depending on the judge's understanding of the law. Read More
How Will DHS Continue to Partner on Existing State Enforcement Programs Given Legal Challenge to Alabama’s Law?
Today, several newspapers reported on DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s statement that the federal government is not going to help Alabama implement its new immigration law, leaving many to wonder how the federal government will continue running existing state and local immigration enforcement programs like Secure Communities. On one hand, the federal government has sued Alabama claiming that its immigration law (HB 56) is unconstitutional. On the other, the federal government regularly partners with state and local police agencies to identify unauthorized immigrants for potential deportation. Secretary Napolitano now faces the difficult decision of what DHS will do with unauthorized immigrants in Alabama who may have been picked up under the new law. Read More
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