“In fiscal year (FY) 2019, the 287(g) program encountered approximately 775 aliens convicted for assault, 704 convicted for dangerous drugs, 145 convicted for sex offenses/assaults, 173 convicted for obstructing police, 110 convicted for weapon offenses, and 21 convicted for homicide.”
The Hill
August 28, 2020
Tom Homan
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “287(g) program” — which allows ICE to partner with local law enforcement — is under attack across the country. Anti-borders activists continue to protest, demanding that sheriffs end their programs — and calling for them to resign if they don’t. Many Democrats in Congress attack the program and ask federal agencies to review the program for malfeasance. The talking points from the left about the program are simply mistruths — because opponents don’t want anyone, including ICE, to enforce the immigration laws of this country. It is time to review the facts and set the record straight.
The 287(g) program enhances the safety and security of communities by creating partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and remove criminal aliens who are amenable to removal from the United States. They identify someone who is in the country in violation of federal law and who has been arrested and booked into a jail for a criminal offense. The state or local law enforcement agency arrested them and decided to book them into a jail cell because they were either a danger to the public or a flight risk. ICE had nothing to do with that arrest. Law enforcement made an independent decision to arrest and book the criminal and are simply doing what they have done for decades: enforcing the law and protecting the community.
The 287(g) program was born when the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added Section 287(g), to the Immigration and Nationality Act. This section of law authorizes the director of ICE to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies that permit designated officers to perform limited immigration law enforcement functions. Agreements under section 287(g) require the local law enforcement officers to receive appropriate training and to function under the supervision of ICE officers.
This is a clear example of law enforcement working with other law enforcement to take criminals off the street, and it works very well.
The program’s benefits to community safety are clear. In fiscal year (FY) 2019, the 287(g) program encountered approximately 775 aliens convicted for assault, 704 convicted for dangerous drugs, 145 convicted for sex offenses/assaults, 173 convicted for obstructing police, 110 convicted for weapon offenses, and 21 convicted for homicide. Thanks to 287(g) agreements, those public safety threats are no longer walking the streets in those communities — in fact, they are not even in this country anymore…. More here.
