Los Angeles Times (California)
By Kate Linthicum
October 7, 2014
The
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend a
controversial partnership with federal immigration authorities designed
to target potentially deportable
immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes.
The
board voted 3-0 to extend the contract after a tense hearing in which
dozens of activists blamed the program for eroding trust in law
enforcement among immigrant communities.
The
program, known as 287(g), places federal immigration agents inside
county jails and trains jail employees to investigate whether inmates
convicted of certain crimes
are in the country illegally. Inmates identified through the program
are often turned over to federal authorities after they are released
from jail.
Supervisors
Gloria Molina, Don Knabe and Michael Antonovich voted to approve the
agreement. Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained.
Yaroslavsky
said he wanted to see more data on the program, saying quarterly
reports produced by the Sheriff's Department since 2010 have been
"superficial."
He
held up a one-page report sent to the board in August that he said
included little more than the number of interviews conducted by
ICE-trained jail employees (339 during
a three-month period that ended July 31), and called for more detail
about what crimes individuals identified through the program had been
convicted of.
During
Tuesday's hearing, advocates said a host of immigrants without serious
criminal records have found themselves in deportation proceedings
because of 287(g).
Blanca
Perez, 34, told the board that she ended up in ICE custody after being
arrested for illegally selling ice cream bars outside her son's school
in Van Nuys. Perez,
a Mexican immigrant who came to the country illegally, said she was
transferred from a jail facility to an ICE detention center after an
L.A. County sheriff's deputy questioned her about her immigration
status.
"Please end this program," she told the supervisors. "It separates families."
Molina,
who has been one of the staunchest supporters of 287(g), said her
office would investigate the circumstances of Perez's case. She said
serious criminals, not people
like Perez, are the program's intended targets.
"We are not here picking up people who are selling lollipops," she said. "We are trying to find a way to make L.A. County safe."
Immigration
officials said they could not provide immediate data on how many ICE
detainees were identified through the county jail system or what types
of crimes those
individuals had been convicted of.
A
2010 Migration Policy Institute study of the county's implementation of
the program found that of 2,874 federal requests to hold potentially
deportable inmates that
year, only about a fifth were issued against so-called Level One
offenders, which include those convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping.
The rest were issued against people who had committed less serious offenses, including traffic violations, the study found.
Across
the country, state and local governments have been reconsidering their
relationship with federal immigration officials. The number of law
enforcement jurisdictions
participating in 287(g) has decreased from 75 to 35 in recent years,
according to ICE officials. The only other jurisdiction in California to
participate in the program is Orange County.
Several
advocates had asked that lawmakers delay the vote until a new sheriff
is elected and sworn in. Both candidates vying in the November election
to replace interim
Sheriff John Scott have voiced opposition to the program.
After
the board voted to approve the contract, the board chambers erupted in
jeers as immigrant advocates shouted "Molina deports!" in unison.
Earlier in the meeting,
about 60 advocates stood up and turned their backs to lawmakers for
more than an hour in a silent protest.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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