Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) facts for kids

Section 287(g) is a part of a U.S. law called the Immigration and Nationality Act. This section lets the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allow certain state and local police officers to help enforce federal immigration laws.

When local police agencies agree to work with DHS under Section 287(g), their officers get special training. They also work under the guidance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This training gives these local officers the power to find, process, and sometimes hold people who have broken immigration rules. They do this while doing their normal police work.

Section 287(g) was added to the law in 1996.

How Section 287(g) Works

ICE requires police officers who join the program to complete four weeks of training. As of March 2017, only 37 local police and sheriff offices out of more than 15,000 in the U.S. were part of the 287(g) program.

Some local leaders chose not to join or stopped participating. They often said it was because of the costs, or that it hurt their relationship with local people. They also worried about bad publicity. Many wanted their officers to focus on local crime, not federal immigration laws. Between 2006 and 2015, over 402,000 immigrants were identified for deportation through this program.

History of the Program

The 287(g) program first focused on finding and deporting criminals who were already in jail.

Around 2006, police officers in Charlotte, North Carolina, began checking people in public for civil immigration violations. This new way of using 287(g) was called the "task force model." It was different from the original jail-based model.

Later, the sheriff who started this, Jim Pendergraph, became a leader at ICE. He helped expand the "task force model" to more communities. However, by the end of 2012, ICE decided to stop these "task force" agreements. They felt that other programs, like Secure Communities, used resources more effectively.

The number of local areas participating in 287(g) went down from 72 in 2011 to 37 in 2017. Some people thought the program might end. But in January 2017, Donald Trump asked the Department of Homeland Security to create more 287(g) partnerships. Many thought this meant bringing back the "task force" model. After this, several sheriffs asked to join the program.

Concerns About Civil Rights

The U.S. Justice Department has found that some places using the 287(g) program have violated people's constitutional rights. This means they acted unfairly or illegally on a large scale.

For example, Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa, Arizona, used his 287(g) power to conduct sweeps where Latino people were unfairly targeted because of their race. One expert described it by saying, "there were people in yellow suits running around catching Hispanics."

In Alamance County, North Carolina, sheriff's deputies set up checkpoints near Latino neighborhoods. Latino drivers were ten times more likely to be stopped than non-Latino drivers. Also, for the same traffic violation, Latino drivers were often arrested, while non-Latino drivers only received tickets.

In February 2017, the ACLU pointed out many cases of civil rights violations and racial discrimination. They urged ICE to stop the program, saying these local agencies could not be trusted to protect people's rights.

Support and Opposition

The National Sheriffs' Association supports expanding the 287(g) program. They believe it's important for local police to work with federal law enforcement. They say this helps keep communities safe and protects national security.

However, groups like the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Major Cities Chiefs Association are against police participating in immigration enforcement. They argue that it makes it harder for police to build trust and good communication with immigrant communities. This trust is important for police to maintain public order.

The Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force, made up of 63 sheriffs and police chiefs, also signed a letter. They stated that they do not want their officers to act as immigration enforcement agents. Other groups strongly against 287(g) include the ACLU, the American Immigration Council, and the Southern Center for Human Rights.