Why Trump’s favored immigration plan is unlikely to return to Colorado
A cornerstone of President Trump’s plan is to strengthen the controversial 287g program. A few Colorado agencies tried it and ultimately decided against it.
A major component of President Donald Trump’s immigration plan is to triple the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers across the country, but the reality of that, at least in Colorado, is seemingly slim as many law enforcement agencies and organizations have denounced the controversial 287g program Trump has been eyeing to rejuvenate deportation efforts.
287g works by deputizing local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws. In a January executive order, Trump dictated that ICE should move to hire 10,000 enforcement officers to the “extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations.”
While the news cycle focuses on various Trump policies, internal memos and rumors that could impact immigration, revamping 287g remains a sticking point because the program already exists.
Two Colorado agencies, the Colorado State Patrol and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, made agreements with ICE to deputize officers, but both programs were eventually halted due to fiscal concerns and controversies surrounding the basis of the program.
The Colorado State Patrol ran the 287g program from 2007 through 2012. The El Paso Sheriff’s Office participated from 2007 through 2013.
It’s unclear how many people illegally residing in the US were detained during the years those agencies utilized the federal program. Both agencies, when asked, said they didn’t keep those numbers. While some data is available by digging around the internet, ICE hasn’t released a full list revealing how many people have been processed and removed through 287g.
PULP has requested data from ICE on Colorado 287g programs through a Freedom of Information Act request, but has not yet received data from the agency.
In 2012, 363 people were processed for removal by the Colorado Department of Public Safety, 233 were “removed” or “voluntarily returned.” 156 people were processed by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, 69 were removed or returned to their country of origin.
In 2007, when the Colorado State Patrol took on the program, 22 state troopers completed a five-week training course to enforce federal immigration laws, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The agency’s hope was that the immigration unit would curb human trafficking cases and other criminal activity.
From July to November 2007, CSP reported to the Colorado Legislature the agency made 26 human trafficking arrests due to the program. 408 undocumented immigrants were processed, 93 had a criminal record, 14 were aggravated felons. During the five months, 515 people total were processed by CSP for illegally residing in the US.
The El Paso Sheriff’s Office ended its program in May 2015, citing funding and the programs criticisms for its ending.
“In my opinion it’s a scare tactic.” Vio leta Chapin, CU Law
In a news release announcing the program cancellation, the agency said, “Although beneficial at the time, we have found the program duplicates efforts of ICE. The resources used to operate this program will be now allocated to local issues related to the operation of Intake and Release at the Criminal Justice Center.
“The end of this program signifies the sheriff’s office commitment to fiscal responsibility and the strengthening of relationships with all citizens of the community.”
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged the program had been controversial due to criticisms that “it lacked proper federal oversight, exhausted local resources and ultimately, resulted in the profiling of undocumented immigrants.”
Essentially, the program works by striking agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies to deputize officers to act as immigration agents that can question legal status and make related arrests. ICE debuted the program in 1997.
Ten years later, when the two Colorado agencies took on the program, there were around 70 other law enforcement agencies across the nation participating, but that number has dwindled to 34 agencies in 16 states.
In 2010, the program was curtailed under the Obama Administration. Another program called Secure Communities, which was also established under George W. Bush, was axed. It allowed local law enforcement agencies to aid federal immigration efforts. Its purpose was to reduce the potential for racial profiling in immigration enforcement, according to ICE. Secure Communities allowed agencies to check information, such as fingerprints from every arrest, regardless of crime, against a federal immigration database.
Instead, Obama implemented the Priority Enforcement Program, which was more structured in which crimes were priority for removal. PEP has been terminated through an executive order by Trump. In the order, he instructs the reinstatement of Secure Communities.
Secure Communities was implemented throughout the state in nearly all law enforcement agencies, said Chris Johnson, the director for the County Sheriffs of Colorado. Even now, law enforcement agencies in Colorado share information on arrests, such as was happening under both Secure Communities and PEP, with the FBI.
At this point, it’s unclear how Trump’s executive order will change law enforcement operations. While 287g programs seem unlikely, other parts of Trump’s plan may affect Colorado law enforcement.
“I don’t have the room, nor the resources.” — Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor on enforcing federal immigration laws
Violeta Chapin, who runs the Criminal and Immigration Defense Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School, said the changes to immigration policy are coming at such a “furious pace.”
It’s quite scary, she said. Of course, that may be the point.
Some states may be more eager to sign 287g contracts with ICE now, particularly Republican states, Chapin said. But in Colorado, she added, that sounds like a long shot.
“I can’t imagine they (agencies that may contract a 287g program) are oblivious to what has happened around the country,” Chapin said, referencing the profiling charges of the program in Maricopa County.
Even when it comes to re-implementing Secure Communities, Chapin said it will be interesting to see how Trump does it.
“In my opinion it’s a scare tactic,” she said. “I just don’t know how they’re going to do it.”
Johnson and CSOC published a memo outlining what powers sheriff departments in Colorado have relating to immigration law. Put simply, the organization’s position is one of the constitution and what courts have previously ruled — holding a person administratively, without a judge’s signature, is against the law. CSOC holds that jailing a person for illegally being in the US, and has committed no other crimes, is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.
“If federal authorities present us with a warrant or other detainer, signed by a judge or a magistrate, we hold those persons for federal authorities to pick up,” the CSOC memo said. “However, the courts have ruled that we have no authority to hold arrestees on administrative holds that have not been reviewed and approved by federal judges or magistrates.”
Trump throughout his campaign, and more recently with an executive order, said the ICE 287g program was successful, but fewer local law enforcement agencies use the program now than when it was created.
For local and state law enforcement agencies that agree to participate in the federal program, ICE provides federal authorization and training on how to “identify, process, and when appropriate, detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law enforcement activity,” said the Colorado State Patrol in a concept and issues paper to the state legislature prior to the program being implemented.
Then, the program was seen as an enhancement for immigration enforcement. CSP said the program intersected with the agency’s strategic goals of improving traffic safety, interdicting criminal activity and enhancing homeland security.
Johnson said he could not imagine a 287g program returning to what it was in the beginning, in 1997, even with Trump as president.
In 2012, the program was pulled back by the Department of Homeland Security after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down several aspects of a Arizona’s controversial immigration law.
Johnson said the cost of the program alone eliminates most of Colorado’s counties from participating in the ICE program. The bill to train officers and support the program would fall on taxpayers, and there are other, more important priorities.
Nowhere is that more true than in Pueblo County.
Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor said beyond the obvious legal reasons why he wouldn’t consider opting into a 287g program, the department, nor the county can stretch funding far enough to establish the program.
“I don’t have the room, nor the resources,” said Taylor, whose severely overcrowded and aging jail would cost an estimated $180 million to rebuild.
There have been rumors that Trump may use federal dollars to leverage local law enforcement to use the program, but Taylor sees that as unlikely.
