Report critical of immigration detention program

By Andria Simmons

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A federal oversight body’s critical report has rekindled a debate about the effectiveness of a program touted by local law enforcement as a way to rid the community of dangerous illegal immigrants.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not adequately vetting, training or supervising the police forces that have been empowered to enforce immigration law, according to the March report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.

The Gwinnett, Cobb, Hall and Whitfield County Sheriff’s departments are among 71 law enforcement agencies nationwide that have inked agreements with ICE. The program, called 287(g), allows deputies to screen inmates booked into the jail to determine their immigration status. After their local charges are disposed of, undocumented inmates are handed over to federal immigration officers.

The report said it’s difficult to determine if the program is achieving its stated goal of deporting dangerous criminals. Data collection has been focused on the total number of illegal immigrants detained, instead of weighted toward the types of offenses they committed.

Local law enforcement officials disagree that the program has been mismanaged.

“We have had no major issues with oversight and have always received very good support from ICE,” said the Gwinnett County sheriff’s spokeswoman, Stacey Bourbonnais. “We also have received excellent guidance and additional training since the program started here in November.”

Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren says the program he implemented in 2007 has helped to reduce the number of foreign-born and illegal immigrants booked into the jail.

Gwinnett County, which implemented the 287(g) program in November, experienced a 22 percent drop in the number of foreign-born inmates, which includes both legal and illegal immigrants, booked into the jail between mid-November 2009 and mid-April 2010. That’s compared with the same time frame the previous year.

It’s unclear if fewer illegal immigrants are being arrested, because prior to that time, deputies did not check each inmate’s immigration status.

Cobb County, which started 287(g) in July 2007, experienced a 22 percent drop in undocumented immigrants booked into that jail in the two-year interim. The ailing economy may be partly to blame, since jobs have become scarce in construction, manufacturing and agriculture – industries that historically have relied on cheap immigrant labor.

Auditors from the inspector general’s office conducted field inspections at multiple law enforcement agencies over the first six months of 2009. ICE officials agreed with most of their recommendations and took steps to address them beginning last fall.

“ICE has fundamentally reformed the 287(g) program since the audit was conducted and has fulfilled many of the report’s recommendations,” said agency spokeswoman Nicole Navas.

Since the report was released last month, immigrant advocate groups in Georgia have renewed calls for an end to the 287(g) program. They say the findings echoed concerns that they have long voiced.

Critics of the program say poorly trained officers have engaged in racial profiling to boost arrests of illegal immigrants. And all too often, friends and neighbors who are undocumented are getting caught instead of hardened criminals.

“I think it was very affirming and kind of repeated some of the specific concerns and criticisms that we have had,” said Xochitl Bervera, spokeswoman for the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. “Even according to their own statistics, they are not really focusing on violent criminals.”

Auditors said ICE did not take into account the civil liberties records of the agencies it approved. Some have recently been involved in lawsuits involving allegations of civil rights abuses, although none of those agencies are in Georgia.

The 94-page report listed 33 recommendations, including:

• ICE should require police forces that seek approval for 287(g) to provide information about past and pending civil rights allegations, and incorporate such information into the selection and review process.

• ICE should provide clear guidelines on how police agencies should report complaints about officer misconduct, and retain them for future review.

• ICE should increase monitoring of jurisdictions carrying out 287(g) and their effect on civil liberties by tracking the reasons for stops, the ethnic and racial information for those who are stopped, and the outcome of any resulting criminal charges.

Anecdotes included in the report show how local officers have sometimes misused their immigration enforcement powers. One state Highway Patrol officer took an accident victim to jail to determine the victim’s immigration status, even though the victim had committed no offense. The victim was detained until an immigration officer could respond.

In other findings, the report said use of interpreters within the program was inconsistent and recommended that ICE develop clear guidelines for when they should be utilized.

Inspectors also discovered that 88 percent of 287(g) officers had not completed all the required refresher training on immigration law, which is complex and constantly changing.

The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department has been screening jail inmates since November. During that time, a third of the ICE detainees were jailed for traffic violations. In Cobb, two-thirds of the inmates detained for ICE since July 2007 were arrested for traffic offenses.

Inmates picked up by ICE can plead their case before an immigration judge. It’s not clear to what extent the seriousness of their offense is factored into the final removal decision. ICE said local statistics about removals were not immediately available.

ICE provided data collected nationally between October and March that showed only 16 percent of the individuals deported because of jail enforcement programs had committed minor crimes such as traffic violations. Eighty-four percent committed crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping, as well as drug-related offenses and property crimes.

Last fall, ICE revised its agreements with participating law enforcement agencies. It now requires 287(g) officers to categorize inmates in a three-tiered priority level system based upon the type of offense they are accused of committing.

Number of criminal illegal immigrants identified

County/ 2007/ 2008/ 2009/ 2010*

(* As of April 11, 2010)

Cobb/ 128/ 3,751/ 2,610/ 1,061

Ga. Dept. Public Safety/ --/ 9/ 15/ 2

Gwinnett/ --/ --/ --/ 1,115

Hall/ --/ 873/ 1,077/ 377

Whitfield/ --/ 101/ 378/ 241

Number of criminal illegal immigrants deported or leaving voluntarily

County/ 2007/ 2008/ 2009/ 2010*

(* As of April 11, 2010)

Cobb/ 93/ 2,772/ 1,379/ 390

Ga. Dept. of Public Safety/ --/ 4/ 6/ 0

Gwinnett/ --/ --/ --/ 322

Hall/ --/ 686/ 844/ 191

Whitfield/ --/ 76/ 284/ 97

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement