Trust, Immigrants and Governor Brown

NEW YORK TIMES (Editorial)

September 2, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/opinion/trust-immigrants-and-gov-brown.html

There is a significant and immediate step Gov. Jerry Brown of California can take to protect community safety and civil liberties in his state.

He can sign the Trust Act, a recently passed state bill that prevents local police departments from turning their jails into immigration holding cells for noncriminals or minor offenders whose sentences are up or who should otherwise be out on bail. The act would require the police to let such people go, even if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have issued voluntary requests, known as detainers, that they be held until they can be picked up for deportation. Only those who have been convicted of or charged with serious or violent felonies would continue to be detained at ICE’s request.

The purpose of the act is to bring state enforcement in line with federal deportation priorities — which is to focus on dangerous criminals, national-security threats and repeat offenders. It was prompted by a troubled ICE program called Secure Communities, which enlists local authorities in immigration enforcement by doing checks on everyone they fingerprint. The program has led to the deportation of tens of thousands of minor offenders or those with no criminal records. The Trust Act is one state’s way to prevent such overkill.

“We want police to distinguish between the woman selling tamales and the gang member who has a record,” said the measure’s sponsor, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat. Mr. Ammiano wants to spare local police the burden and expense of confining the wrong people on ICE’s behalf. He also wants to avoid the damage done to public safety when immigration enforcement is indiscriminate, and when deportation decisions are, in effect, delegated to the local police. He says that crime victims and witnesses in immigrant communities will be too afraid to cooperate with the police if they fear that any encounter could mean being handed over to ICE.

But the bill is facing strong opposition from some sheriffs who claim that the Trust Act would force them to choose between violating federal law and violating state law, based on their mistaken view that detention requests from ICE are mandatory, not voluntary. About two dozen law professors have written to Governor Brown explaining that this interpretation is simply wrong, given the statutory language, legislative and regulatory history of federal immigration law, and the constitutional principle that the federal government cannot commandeer state law enforcement for its own purposes.

The Trust Act has the support of civil rights organizations, local governments, the Los Angeles mayor and other city officials, and the Catholic bishops — all of whom favor a bright line between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council voted 11 to 0 for a resolution endorsing the bill. Its sensible approach to limit unfair detentions and help conserve local resources for fighting crime deserves the governor’s support.