287(g) Agreements on Way Out?

It look likes the Obama administration will be phasing out the 287(g) programs in which the U.S. government trained state and local law enforcement officers to enforce the U.S. immigration laws. The administration is using budget cutting to justify not signing any new contracts with state and local governments and terminating the least productive agreements.

The U.S. government had experienced some problems with the 287(g) programs with state and local police overzealously enforcing the immigrtaion laws. For example, the Department of Homeland Security had to cancel the contract with Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (headed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio) after a Justice Department investigation confirmed what was in the newspapers for years — that the office had been engaging in a systematic violation of the civil rights of immigrants and Latinos.

But the administration is not abandoning its efforts to use state and local law enforcement to assist in enforcing the U.S. immigration laws. The administration has put its money on Secure Communities, which it views as a more efficient way to deport noncitizens arrested by state and local law enforcement.

KJ