Local Authorities Not Helping ICE

Across the country local sheriff’s departments are shying away from aiding Immigration Customs and Enforcement, ICE, in detaining immigrants because they could potentially get into trouble with the law. What has been happening in recent years is when a person is detained for a crime, say drug possession, or a domestic disturbance, and ICE believes that the person is in the country illegally, they would contact the local sheriff’s department and ask them to hold the person up to 48 hours after they are supposed to be released. When immigration wasn’t such an issue, this was flying. Now as immigration numbers are growing, as with the immigrant’s power, local authorities fear that they could potentially face a law suit.

In 2012 there was a case a case in Oregon that sealed the fate for these ICE detainers. A woman, that was here illegally from Mexico, was in jail for violating a restraining order after a domestic violence case. ICE contacted the local authorities to hold the woman after she was supposed to be released, and they did for 19 hours. The woman sued the local authorities and a federal judge ruled that the ICE detainer requests were exactly that, requests. The local authorities were not required to hold people as it is impeding their fourth amendment right to unreasonable search and seizure.

Now that immigration is an issue that is affecting authorities nationwide, more light is being shed on what immigrants are being put through. Seeing as pretty much every agency that deals with immigrants is being put in the limelight, they are not looking to get sued, and more and more local agencies are deciding to opt out of helping ICE. Many locals have agreed to give ICE a heads up as to when the people in custody are being released so that ICE has time to detain the people, but they will not hold them any longer than the time they are sentenced to serve. Many of the sheriff’s departments have spoken out saying that their opinion as to whether or not these people should be held is irrelevant, and it is all about avoiding lawsuits.