ImmigrationLos Angeles County to cooperate with ICE on detaining undocumented immigrants

Published 9 October 2014

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisorsvoted Tuesday to extend 287(g), a program which allows federal immigration agents to train county jail employees to investigate whether certain inmates convicted of serious crimes are in the country illegally. Inmates confirmed as undocumented immigrants are then transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) detention centers after serving their sentence.Aroud the country, at least 225 law enforcement agencies have decided to refuse hold requests from ICE.

LA County personnel to be trained by ICE to investigate immigration status // Source: souluo.net

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend 287(g), a program which allows federal immigration agents to train county jail employees to investigate whether certain inmates convicted of serious crimes are in the country illegally. Inmates confirmed as undocumented immigrants are then transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers after serving their sentence. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who was abstained from the vote said he wanted more data on the program’s effectiveness. Immigration advocates are concerned that a significant percentage of the immigrants in ICE custody due to program 287(g) were convicted of crimes deemed “not-serious.” Governing reports that Blanca Perez, a 34-year-old Mexican immigrant, told the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors that she was transferred from a county jail to an ICE detention center after being arrested for selling ice cream bars outside her son’s school in Van Nuys. “Please end this program,” she told the supervisors. “It separates families.”

County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who supports 287(g), has agreed to investigate the circumstances of Perez’s case, adding that the program is targeted at serious criminals. “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.”

A 2010 Migration Policy Institute study of Los Angeles County’s implementation of the 287(g) program found that of the 2,874 ICE requests for jails to hold potentially deportable inmates that year, only 20 percent were issued against Level One offenders- individuals convicted of rape, kidnapping, and murder. The remaining ICE requests were issued against individuals convicted of traffic violations, and other less serious crimes.

Local governments across the country are reviewing their agreements with ICE to honor hold requests. In 2012, the National Sheriffs Association supported the expansion of 287(g), stating “it is critical that local law enforcement maintain and build upon the partnerships with federal law enforcement to ensure that collectively we can promote, protect, and preserve the public safety and homeland security.” Yet to date, at least 225 law enforcement agencies have decided to refuse hold requests from ICE (see“More law enforcement agencies refuse to hold undocumented inmates for ICE,” HSNW, 7 October 2014). The number of law enforcement agencies participating in 287(g) has decreased from seventy-five to thirty-five in recent years. Orange County is the only other jurisdiction in California enrolled in the 287(g) program. Meanwhile a California state law implemented in January — the Trust Act — rules that law enforcement agencies should not agree to hold requests unless the inmate is charged or convicted with a serious offense.