Centenial Celebration

Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.

Date: April 29, 2024 Mon

Time: 8:20 pm

Results for immigration customs enforcement

1 results found

Author: Avila, Krsna

Title: The Rise of the Sanctuary: Getting Local Officers Out of the Business of Deportations in the Trump Era

Summary: Juxtaposed against the Statue of Liberty's promise of refuge to "the huddled masses, yearning to breathe free" lies another reality: immigration policy in the United States has long been fraught with racial tension and dictated by an uneasy fear of "the other." From the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Mexican Bracero program of the past to the Muslim ban and elimination of Temporary Protected Status of the present, history has shown that the work of immigrant justice and racial justice are inextricably linked. Since the first week of the Trump administration, the federal government has launched a racist and mean-spirited attack on immigrants and those who support and welcome them, all in the aim of satisfying Trump's steadfast campaign promise to "deport them all" as a way to "make America great again." With a budget of over $18 billion - more than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined - the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detention and deportation machine is vast and dangerous. But it also relies heavily on the voluntary assistance of local governments, particularly local law enforcement agencies, to remove individuals from the families and livelihoods they have built in the U.S. Localities have no legal authority to enforce immigration laws and no legal obligation to assist DHS with its immigration enforcement actions. Yet local assistance with federal immigration work continues across the country. Three out of every four counties will voluntarily detain individuals at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Threats and attempts to deny federal grants to "sanctuary jurisdictions" - loosely identified as those who enact policies limiting involvement of their local law enforcement agencies in immigration enforcement - have been key strategies in Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. From executive order pronouncements and Department of Justice (DOJ) policy decisions to near weekly public speeches invoking threats against and denunciations of sanctuary policies, the administration has sought to force localities to help carry out its increased deportation efforts, pushing local agencies to prioritize federal immigration enforcement over their own community concerns - and seeking to punish those who rightfully refuse to be involved. However, efforts to thwart sanctuary policies have failed in a number of ways. During 2017, local policies limiting involvement with ICE expanded in spite of, and sometimes because of, the hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy changes in the Trump Administration. Over 400 counties now have stronger limitations on engaging in immigration enforcement than they did a year ago. Under pressure from community members and advocates, cities, counties, and states across the country enacted new laws and policies disengaging with federal immigration enforcement in a variety of manners, from restricting ICE access within their jails to refusing to honor ICE detainers, which are requests to detain someone for apprehension by ICE - a detention that federal courts continue to find unconstitutional. Federal courts have also ruled against other unconstitutional overreaches by the federal government, issuing new rulings on the strict limits of local authority in immigration enforcement and preventing the administration from stripping federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions. In 2018, strengthening and expanding local sanctuary policies will be crucial to resisting the anti-immigrant Trump agenda. Though we recognize that sanctuary policies alone are not sufficient to prevent deportations, we hope that their adoption continues and increases over the Trump administration's second year. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) will continue our work to support and advise local advocates and city, county, and state government bodies across the country to fight back against unjust detention and deportations and to protect immigrant rights.

Details: Immigrant Legal Resource Center, 2018. 32p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 14, 2018 at: https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/rise_of_sanctuary-lg-20180201.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/rise_of_sanctuary-lg-20180201.pdf

Shelf Number: 151528

Keywords:
Department of Homeland Security
Illegal Immigration
Immigration
Immigration Customs Enforcement
Immigration Policy
Sanctuary City