Los Angeles, Following Obama’s Lead, Ends ICE Enforcement Program

By Joe Guzzardi
May 18, 2015

Last week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to end an Immigration Customs and Enforcement program, 287 (g), that allowed federal agents to work inside local jails to determine inmates’ immigration status for possible deportation prior to their release. LA County first implemented 287 (g) in 2005, and renewed its contract with the federal government last year.

But 287 (g) ended when the board’s membership composition shifted. New supervisor Sheila Keuhl and former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis denounced 287 (g) as an example of how immigration officials unfairly target Latinos. Before the vote, Solis said that ending 287 (g) would be a victory for the Latino community that has been unduly “scrutinized and profiled.” To help defeat 287 (g), immigration activists sent out hundreds of emails and made thousands of robo-calls to pressure the board. Their success will dramatically reduce number of what would be legitimate, legal deportations.

A brief description of what 287 (g) is as originally described on ICE’s webpage: a program to allow state and local law enforcement to protect the Homeland when they come in contact with foreign-born criminals or immigration violators. Officers selected to implement 287 (g) undergo extensive training. ICE has three versions of 287 (g); the most widely used is the correctional or jail program that LA country recently ended. 287 (g)-trained officers can determine aliens’ status only after they have been arrested. The majority of illegal immigrants they come in contact with have not had previous involvement with immigration agents, and are predominantly recent illegal immigrants who have committed their first non-immigration crime or been admitted on border crossing cards, but not fingerprinted upon entry like most other foreign national visitors.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 287 (g) became more widely used when authorities learned that some of the perpetrators had contact with federal officials but were released despite being present on expired visas.

A Migratory Policy Institute analysis of 287 (g) as it was applied in Los Angeles found that the program was highly successful: 95 percent of the offenders were either felons, had multiple misdemeanor convictions or serious traffic infractions like drunk driving or hit and run. The remaining 5 percent had immigration violations or numerous previous deportations.

As part of his November 2014 immigration executive action amnesty, President Obama proposed a new approach to dealing with illegal immigrants called the Priority Enforcement Program. PEP pledges only to deport illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a crime, are suspected of terrorism, or represent a threat to national security.

Trusting Obama on immigration enforcement requires a major leap of faith. When Obama announced PEP, he undermined 287 (g) and ended the similarly-intended Secure Communities program. He has proven that despite his insistence that the wants to “deport felons, not families,” he’s releasing criminals and not deporting anyone. In 2013, ICE freed 36, 007 including aliens convicted of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping and drug related crimes.

Obama’s refusal to deport criminal aliens but to instead release them into the general public is a damning indictment that proves his disregard for national security and indifference to the historic American nation’s future.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow. Contact him at [email protected]