Immigration rights: U.S. Launches New Hotline for Detainees

From the LA Times, Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston: 

Federal immigration officials Thursday announced the creation of a telephone hotline to ensure that detainees held by local police are informed of their rights.

The toll-free number, (855) 448-6903, will field queries from detainees held by state or local law enforcement agencies if the detainees "believe they may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime," the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said in a statement.

An ICE official in Washington said agency representatives had not been authorized to comment about the hotline but that more information soon would be posted online.

The hotline will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by ICE personnel, according to the statement, with interpreters available in several languages.

"ICE personnel will collect information from the individual and refer it to the relevant ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations field office for immediate action," the statement said.

As part of the new initiative, ICE officials plan to issue a form to all detainees informing them that ICE will assume their custody within 48 hours, according to the statement. The form will be available in English as well as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Vietnamese, the statement said. ICE posted a sample copy of the form online Thursday.

"It also advises individuals that if ICE does not take them into custody within the 48 hours, they should contact the [law enforcement agency] or entity that is holding them to inquire about their release from state or local custody," the statement said.

The hotline comes amid controversy over local law enforcement agencies’ ability to detain people they believe to be illegal immigrants.

Scores of local law enforcement agencies partner with the federal government under the 287(g) program, established in 1996, which deputizes police to turn over suspects or criminals to immigration authorities for possible deportation. Normally, police do not enforce federal law.

ICE has 287(g) agreements with 69 law enforcement agencies in 24 states, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Since January 2006, the program is credited with identifying more than 217,300 potentially removable illegal immigrants, mostly at local jails, according to ICE records. Also under the program, ICE has trained and certified more than 1,500 state and local officials to enforce immigration law, the agency says.

Immigrant rights groups say the program has led to civil rights violations and racial profiling, and such authority has been especially controversial in Arizona. There, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been criticized for what many people call mistreatment of suspected illegal immigrants.

This month, the Justice Department announced it was suspending its 287(g) agreement with Arpaio and his deputies after an investigation found they had pursued a campaign of racial profiling against Latinos, making unlawful arrests and violating civil rights laws in an effort to crack down on illegal immigration.

Separately, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona, ended the Maricopa County jail officers' authority to detain people on immigration charges, barring them from holding immigration violators who have not been charged with local crimes.

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, called the new hotline  “a positive development,” but said it was “overdue” and “inadequate.”

“Often people who are subject to ICE detainers have no idea why they are being held,” said Saenz, who is based at the national Latino civil rights group’s Los Angeles headquarters. “This kind of step should have been in place the very first time ICE undertook an expansion of its detainers.”

“ICE needs to focus on fixing the problems up front,” Saenz added, avoiding unconstitutional arrests and monitoring local law enforcement agencies it partners with rather than relying on detainees to report abuses.

“It relies on the individuals being detained to have the courage, knowledge and wherewithal to make a call to the hotline and follow up. They may feel intimidated or unable to adequately navigate their case,” Saenz said.

Over 500 Organizations Demand White House End Flawed State And Local Immigration Enforcement Program

The American Civil Liberties Union and 520 other local and national organizations sent a letter to President Obama this week demanding that the administration terminate the 287(g) program that allows certain state and local law enforcement agencies to engage in federal immigration enforcement activities. The fundamentally flawed program has been associated with serious civil rights abuses and public safety concerns.

"The 287(g) program encourages racial profiling, diverts scarce police resources and puts everyone's safety at risk," said Omar Jadwat, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "State and local police should not be transformed into federal immigration agents – particularly through a program known for cursory oversight and insufficient training. President Obama should end the program immediately."

Local organizations that signed the letter will host vigils, marches and other activities across the country today and tomorrow condemning the administration's decision to expand the 287(g) program and asking that the administration terminate the program.

Since its inception, the 287(g) program has drawn sharp criticism from federal officials, law enforcement and community groups because it has led to illegal racial profiling and civil rights abuses, including the unlawful detention and deportation of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, while diverting scarce resources from traditional local law enforcement functions and distorting immigration enforcement priorities.

This past April, the Police Foundation, a leading nonpartisan, research and training nonprofit organization dedicated to improving public safety, reported that many sheriffs and police chiefs across the country disapprove of the local immigration enforcement program. According to the Police Foundation study, law enforcement executives believe that "immigration enforcement by local police undermines their core public safety mission, diverts scarce resources, increases their exposure to liability and litigation and exacerbates fear in communities already distrustful of police."

"State and local police do not pull drivers over for tax law violations; likewise, they should not pull drivers over for immigration law violations," said Joanne Lin, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "The 287(g) program has proven to be a failure – resulting in rampant illegal profiling by local police under the cloak of federal immigration enforcement power. Department of Homeland Security needs to terminate the 287(g) program."

ACLU affiliates across the country have reported problems and complaints about local law enforcement agencies with 287(g) agreements engaging in profiling and harassing Latino communities. Some of the most serious complaints regard abuses by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona, which has one of the largest 287(g) programs in the country. These massive abuses have been fueled by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's federal authority under the program and the absence of ICE monitoring. In July 2008, the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit, Ortega v. Arpaio, against Arpaio and his department challenging the illegal racial profiling of Latinos in Maricopa County.

Immigration Agents to Get Expanded Powers

From the New York Times:

In an expansion of its crackdown on drug cartels, the Obama administration plans to announce Thursday that it will give Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the authority to investigate drug crimes. Justice Department officials refused to divulge details of their plans, saying they did not want to pre-empt the news conference. But officials familiar with the plan said it would settle a long-running turf battle between the immigration agency and the Drug Enforcement Administration that has seriously undermined the efforts of both. The decision came amid drug-related violence that left more than 6,000 people dead in Mexico last year. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, called the Justice Department’s decision “welcome news,” saying, “The cartels that smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants have integrated their activities, and now the federal agencies will have a better integrated response.”