US immigration urged to end local police enforcement
August 28 2009 by Matt Jones
NILC signs US immigration letter
500 organizations have signed a letter to the Obama administration urging them to stop allowing local police to enforce US immigration law
In the current system local sheriff and police departments are allowed to train their workers to enforce immigration law in the 278(g) program. The complaints are that this leads to racism and discrimination, but in last months announcement the Obama administrated released plans to strengthen the program.
Executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, Marielena Hincapie said:
"Our assessment is these changes are really cosmetic changes and are not going to achieve the type of structural changes that are needed. Given the violations that have been documented and the potential for increased racial profiling and increased violation, at this point, the best thing is to stop administering this program."
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Matt Chandler, said that the re-vamping of the system will give more over sight to the federal government, but that the letter will be taken very seriously into consideration nonetheless.
The 287(g) US visa program has led to an Investigation of the sheriff's office in Maricopa County, Arizona, by the Justice Department
Signatories to the letter include the Mexican American Legal Defense, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Educational Fund, the Anti-Defamation League as well as many other important organization.
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