Facing Discrimination and Deportation: Ending State-Sponsored Discrimination Against Latino Immigrants in America

Background Information:

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) expanded its partnership with local police forces nationwide through the 287(g) program enacted in 2004. The 287(g) program allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to delegate investigation and detention powers to participating local police forces. Currently ICE has 287(g) agreements with 57 law enforcement agencies in 21 states. Since January 2006, ICE has identified more than 304,678 “potentially removable aliens” through the 287(g) program.

Policy Problem Statement:

The current 287(g) program empowers politically motivated sheriffs and their agencies to discriminate against Latinos and make our communities less secure. The partnership between the DHS and Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate reports of racial profiling and unlawful investigation, detention, and deportation practices in specific counties or jurisdictions has not prevented these abuses of power from occurring. A recent DOJ investigation of Sheriff Terry Johnson of Alamance County, North Carolina, found evidence of discriminatory policing and unconstitutional searches and seizures. These practices include: stopping Latino drivers up to ten times more often than non-Latino drivers; barricading Latino neighborhoods to force residents to drive through checkpoints when entering or departing; arresting Latinos for minor traffic violations while issuing warnings to non-Latino drivers; substandard reporting and monitoring processes that attempt to mask discriminatory conduct; and use of anti-Latino epithets while patrolling. The continued authorization of 287(g) programs across the country perpetuates flawed, obsolete, invasive, and inhumane methods of immigration enforcement.

Problem One:  287(g) programs have resulted in widespread racial profiling.

The existence of 287(g) permits local law enforcement officers to discriminate against citizens based on their race and ethnicity. Latinos in counties with 287(g) programs are unfairly subjected to more checkpoints, traffic citations, and meaningless arrests than persons of other races or ethnicities. Allowing local precincts to act on their racial prejudices has disastrous consequences; the Los Angeles County Police Department misidentified Pedro Guzman, a developmentally disabled U.S.-born citizen, as a Mexican national and deported him to Tijuana under 287(g).

Problem Two: 287(g) programs arrest and incarcerate few violent criminals.

The 287(g) program was intended to target undocumented immigrants convicted of violent crimes, human trafficking, gang and organized crime activity, rape, violence against women, participation in the drug trade, and money laundering. Instead, these partnerships empower law enforcement agencies to “purge towns and cities of unwelcome immigrants.” Numerous studies have shown that traffic violations are the most common charge against persons arrested under 287(g), with some precincts reporting traffic violations as 60 percent of 287(g) cases. In North Carolina, only 13 percent of 287(g) charges were considered felonies, while 87 percent were misdemeanors. Attempts to use 287(g) to round up narcotic traffickers in Arizona also proved unsuccessful, and over 80 percent of persons convicted of “trafficking” faced a single charge of conspiracy to smuggle themselves.

Problem Three: 287 (g) programs are expensive, encourage misallocation of resources and threaten community safety.

Firstly, 287(g) programs have high administration costs. The Mecklenburg County (NC) 287(g) partnership costs $5.5 million annually to administer. Beyond these direct expenses, evidence shows that 287(g) programs incur additional costs, including litigation fees, a decline in local business revenue, lower sales tax revenue, and higher prices for goods and services. Secondly, these programs divert resources away from efforts to fight crime. While Maricopa County’s (AZ) Sheriff Joe Arpaio expanded his immigration enforcement agency and incurred a $1.3 million deficit in three months, reports show that delays in response times to 911 calls increased, arrest rates dropped, and thousands of felony warrants were overlooked. Thirdly, this misallocation of resources negatively impacts the entire community. Between 2004 and 2007, the homicide rate in Maricopa County increased 166 percent, and violent crimes increased 70 percent, despite the fact that the Sheriff Office’s budget increased at four times the rate of the county’s population.